President says farm incomes will be measure of Brexit success
NFU Scotland president Andrew McCornick has used Scotland’s biggest one-day agricultural event to call for politicians to focus on the long-term future of the sector.
Speaking at AgriScot, at Ingliston, Mr McCornick said Brexit was a wakeup call and an opportunity to do better, but the measure of its success would be measured in farm incomes.
He called for politicians in all parliaments to put aside short-term fixes and focus on a long-term view of policy and support to allow farmers and crofters to plan.
Sharing a platform at AgriScot with Scotland’s Rural Economy Secretary, Fergus Ewing, Mr McCornick said: ‘All parts of Scottish farming, food and drink want a profitable, sustainable future through and beyond Brexit.
‘Scotland’s farmers and crofters work in scales of production that are measured in years. A long-term view of policy and support is essential to allow all parts of our industry to make decisions. We are the cornerstone of a food and drink sector looking to double in size by 2030 but that ambition will only be realised if we grow our agricultural output.
‘The measure of success will be judged in farmers’ and crofters’ incomes. These need to be improved now and beyond the Brexit process to allow us to invest in our businesses and deliver food, landscapes, jobs, environmental benefits and a thriving rural economy.
‘Brexit is the wake-up call and the opportunity to change and do better.’
Mr McCornick added: ‘Scotland’s farmers and crofters face the massive challenge of a very high cost winter because of an exceptionally wet summer and autumn. Mr Ewing’s commitment to creating a Weather Advisory Panel in Scotland gives us an opportunity to react in smarter ways to our ever-changing weather.
‘We must learn from events like the extreme flooding in early 2016 as well as the summer of 2017 where it wasn’t the high rainfall that did the damage but the lack of dry days when silage, harvest, slurry-spreading or ploughing could be completed.’