Crofters voice fears at new farm policy

Despite the warm words from politicians, Scotland’s crofters and small producers fear that they are being sidelined in the development of the country’s new agricultural policy.

Welcoming support from a range of political speakers during the Stage 1 debate on the Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill in Holyrood last week, the Scottish Crofters Federation (SCF) said that, despite much lip service being paid to the importance of smaller producers, the promising words offered were not being fulfilled.

And the organisation said it would be pressing for firm commitments to support crofters and small producers as the bill continued its passage through parliament.

SCF chief executive Donna Smith said that smaller producers did not have the economies of scale to see many elements of the proposed schemes pay off – and added that in many of the country’s more remote areas the lack of vets and consultants would make it almost impossible for the requirements to be met.

As an example she said that her organisation would be asking for a derogation from the need for a whole farm plan – a requirement which is set to be introduced from the 2025 Single Application Form and which includes soil testing, carbon audits and biodiversity audits:

“Not only do these place a disproportionate financial burden upon small businesses and potentially eat up most of the funding many crofters are getting, but they are also likely to come with additional administrative hurdles,” said Ms Smith.

“On top of this, in remote locations, the experts required for the auditing procedures are often not available in time – leaving crofters unable to comply with the entry requirements in the first place.”

She added that there was no indication how the future framework would deal with the complexities surrounding common grazings.

Ms Smith said: “Once again there are problems when it comes to meeting the requirements of the whole farm plan, including who is responsible, who pays for the measures required – and what happens if some shareholders refuse to participate?”

On the wider front, Ms Smith said that the SCF was asking for better support for smaller businesses and for the redistribution of direct payments from larger towards smaller producers – including proposals for the introduction of “frontloading” of payments.

She said that during the debate, Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet secretary for rural affairs, land reform and islands, conceded in her concluding remarks that she “absolutely agreed” with the points raised on how important smaller producers were.

“However, as encouraging as these statements are, we need to ensure that rhetoric is followed by action,” said Ms Smith.