If land users want public cash after Brexit, they need to show a good case for getting it

Andrew Midgley looks at the challenges facing rural policy in the future

The European Union has played a pivotal role in rural Scotland over the last 40 years, so it is hard to overstate the importance of the decision to leave the EU. Today we stand at a crossroads in terms of rural policy; it is a moment that will shape rural areas for decades to come.

Whatever happens — whether we leave the EU, become a completely independent country or become an independent country within the EU — there is a need for a much more strategic vision and public debate about where Scottish rural policy should be heading. This debate cannot wait until we have clarity on Brexit negotiations or independence. Collectively we need to be thinking about the future of rural policy now.

Clearly there are some critically important and immediate challenges. European legislation and policy extends into every fibre of rural Scotland and disentangling ourselves from that bureaucracy will represent a mammoth task. There are also questions around the continuity of public financial support for rural businesses. Many farming businesses are currently reliant on direct farm support from Europe in order to remain in business and any radical changes to that support will almost certainly present many with financial difficulties.

But there are also some opportunities. The most important is that we should be able to design rural policy in a way that is specifically tailored to our needs. Brexit should allow us the opportunity to think carefully about what we want to see rural areas deliver, and design policy to achieve those ends. It is here that Scottish Land & Estates wants to make the positive and progressive case for a reformed rural policy that reflects modern and relevant landownership and management.

While we believe that there will be a continued need for public investment in land-based businesses and rural areas, we also believe that defending the status quo is not an option.

Land management currently receives large amounts of public money. At a time of increased pressure on public budgets and public services, it strikes us that land managers will need to come up with the strongest possible arguments in order to justify ongoing public investment. Land managers will have to more clearly demonstrate what public investment in farming and land management delivers to society as a whole.

Clearly there is a critical national interest in maintaining a viable farming industry and our food production capacity, and this does represent an important argument for continued support to some degree. But farmers should be able to make a return through the market rather than being dependent on public support.

Scottish Land & Estates therefore believes that the strongest justification for ongoing support revolves around the wider suite of goods and services that land managers deliver to society. We are supportive of

long-term moves to redesign rural policy so that financial support to land managers is related more to the extent to which they deliver public goods such as enhanced biodiversity, flood alleviation, climate change mitigation and so on.

We are very aware, however, that we have to start from where we are and, given Scottish Government figures which suggest a very high level of dependency on public financial support within farming, we believe that enhancing the profitability of Scottish farming has to be a top priority.

While we do want to see a move towards a greater emphasis on public goods, we cannot just flick a switch and immediately reorientate support for farming and land management. We are very aware of the potential for making decisions that inflict a great deal of pain on rural businesses, so we believe that we need a measured transition to our desired end point, not drastic change.

It will be vital to remember when we talk about changing policy frameworks relating to farming and rural businesses that we are talking about people’s jobs, livelihoods and communities.

So in broad terms, Scottish Land & Estates recognises the need and believes we have an opportunity to change policy frameworks relating to land management, but at the same time believes that a great deal of care is needed to avoid damaging our land-based businesses. We need to work to enhance the profitability of these land-based businesses and support them in a process of change, moving towards a support regime that provides the most robust case for public investment in land management. Andrew Midgley is projects and research manager at Scottish Land & Estates