Covid-19 crisis likely to shape future farming policy, insists Ewing

Rural economy secretary urges consumers and retailers to help out farmers

The current crisis is set to influence the shape of the Scottish Government’s future farming policy.

In an exclusive interview with The Courier, Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing acknowledged the coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated to the nation the tenuous nature of food supplies and the critical importance of domestic agriculture.

“I’ve said on innumerable occasions the primary purpose of farmers is to produce safe, nutritious, tasty food, but the message now will resonate very strongly throughout society as a whole because of the fears brought by this crisis, which has brought home the fragility of the supply chain and global export links, so it will influence policy in future and I welcome that,” he said.

“It is early days to talk about policy beyond Covid, because the whole focus is on that and everything else has been put aside, quite rightly, but as a principle, future support payments must be linked to food production – it’s not a dispensable extra, it’s an inherent, essential part of the security of society.”

Mr Ewing insisted the crisis had equally highlighted the importance of farm labour, something which he predicted would become all too evident over the summer.

“It will become increasingly obvious to the wider public as we sadly see large quantities of fruit being unable to be picked,” he said.

“I hope the challenge can be overcome, and we’re certainly working with the farmers’ union and others to try to fill the gap, but with the best will in the world, it’s difficult to see how that can be 100% successful in these difficult times.”

He called for a “national endeavour” by UK consumers to support farmers by buying produce that would usually be exported, and appealed to supermarkets to give a lead by mounting “active and vigorous” promotions of Scotch beef, lamb, pork and other produce that has lost its regular outlets in restaurants, pubs or fast-food outlets.

“We are shortly going to see the problem of a loss of export markets for Scotch beef and lamb,” Mr Ewing went on.

“At this time of real difficulty for farming I’d like to see special promotions by retailers, and I believe people would be likely to respond extremely positively to that,” he said.

The appeal has already been raised in weekly calls between the UK and Scottish governments and retail leaders, and Mr Ewing predicted the suggestion would meet no resistance.

He said he had also insisted during discussions with the supermarkets that they should come to the immediate aid of the Scottish and British farmers and suppliers by ensuring they are paid promptly.

“I urged them this week to pay cash on delivery, because there are undoubtedly pressures on the supply chain at the moment,” Mr Ewing said.

“Many processors have lost staff and are finding it difficult to maintain production, and they may be finding it difficult financially because they’re operating at a lower level than they normally do, yet their overheads haven’t changed.

“Therefore, it’s essential the supermarkets adopt the very best possible practice.

“Ironically, supermarkets have seen turnover increase exponentially because of panic buying, so cash flow isn’t an issue for them and it’s absolutely essential suppliers get paid.”

Referring to the risk of a lack of competition for some produce, Mr Ewing said there were “hidden people” in the food chain who were suffering from the loss of the catering market.

“Undoubtedly there are competition issues, but at a time of crisis we have to call on supermarkets to give a lead and they are responding to the occasion, dealing with overbuying in recent weeks by policing and marshalling people coming into stores.

“We have eased delivery times and driver hours have been relaxed to some extent, so we’ve responded to their requirements and I’d like to think they’ll respond as well, but will keep an eye on price issue – we don’t want to see any profiteering.

“Any profiteering, if it occurs, will quickly be identified and publicised, so my advice to anyone thinking of taking advantage of the Covid crisis is – don’t, because there will be some pretty unwelcome publicity coming your way if you do.”

Mr Ewing acknowledged the current situation would make life very difficult for some in the rural community and said the government was working closely with the charity RSABI, which is leading that support.

He also added his voice to warnings which have already been issued about child safety on farms at a time when schools are closed.

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It’s essential supermarkets adopt the very best possible practice