Brexit could see farming subsidies cut in half
Comment Fordyce Maxwell
Farming subsidies for Scotland could be cut in half by Brexit, industry leaders have warned ahead of talks between the Scottish and UK governments.
The National Farmers’ Union said Scottish agriculture could see support slashed by as much as £250 million if Scotland is given a population-based share of funding.
NFU Scotland president Andrew Mccornick warned that under the EU’S Common Agricultural Policy Scotland gets 16 per cent of all UK funding.
He said it was a “significant concern” that the Barnett Formula could be applied to subsidies after Brexit, which would “effectively halve the sum coming to Scotland”.
Holyrood rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing will meet the UK environment secretary Michael Gove today for talks.
SNP Europe spokesman Stephen Gethins, MP, said: “This is the latest stark warning from Scotland’s farming leaders that any attempt by the Tories to water down the existing financial support could be potentially catastrophic for producers in Scottish agriculture and our food and drink sectors.
“We will not accept any Westminster power grab as part of the Brexit process – nor will we accept any kind of financial grab.”
One of the many ways in which humans can be classified or subdivided is into those who welcome and are excited by developments in technology and those who are not. When I think about it I find that, as usual for almost anything, I’m in what I like to think of as the sensible middle ground.
On one hand, as we who are undecided like to say, there are the benefits of technology when applied to, for example, farming. Technology has removed much drudgery and repetitive work, such as robots to milk cows without taking a day off.
Work is going on with global positioning system (GPS) collars for cattle that give them an electric shock if they stray beyond where they are supposed to be grazing. Thinking of all those years of repairing fences and reeling out temporary electric fencing, that seems a good move.
Not so long ago closedcircuit television cameras in a lambing shed or cow shed were a revelation. Now electronic trackers, similar to fitness watches, can record a cow’s every movement and pick up anything going wrong before a stockman is likely to.
In crop growing, technology can make application of seed, fertiliser and chemicals to crops more efficient and specific through computerised recording and controls. The logical conclusion is that driverless tractors and combines will eventually make crop growing possible without any human on a seat except a comfortable one in the
0 The move to driverless machinery is likely to be slow control room. Oh, hang on, Harper Adams University in Shropshire – a fine centre of learning and development – recently revealed that some of its scientists had done exactly that. A hectare of barley was drilled and fertilised, sprayed and harvested entirely by driverless machines. Crop growth and disease assessment was by drone.
As might be expected, there were teething problems and the experiment was costly. It will be years yet before thousands of acres of grain are being grown hands-free – or should that be hands-off? But the researchers have moved beyond theory to prove it can be done.
The hands-off system could bring extra benefits for soil structure. Instead of 450hp behemoths hauling massive machinery with a driver, even one only there to monitor the GPS, putting in long shifts we could have several smaller tractors without drivers nipping up and down a field 24 hours a day, or as long as is necessary.
Soil compaction from these smaller machines would take us back to when the average size of tractor on a British farm was 60hp instead of more than 200hp and the effect on soil compaction correspondingly less.
Computer and robot controlled systems are also at work in most intensive forms of farming, particularly vegetable and fruit and tomato growing, poultry and egg production, and increasingly in pig production and dairying.
Will technology be the answer to the worries of some parts of farming about what happens after Brexit to the thousands of east Europeans who seem to have a much stronger work ethic than native Scots or English? Can all rasps, strawberries and tomatoes be selected and picked by robots, likewise all vegetables be planted and harvested by machines?
I don’t bet against it. Looking at, reading about and seeing on TV farming systems now being used compared with those I was writing about as cutting-edge when I started work as a farming journalist exactly 50 years ago this month, I wouldn’t bet against any form of technological development in the next half-century.
And yet on the other hand, going back to my starting point of indecision, the logic is we are heading for a people-free farming future. Apart, of course, from the few needed to monitor and press buttons.
And yet, again, two or three episodes of the apparently endless lambing and calving problems as seen on the TV series This Farming Life is proof that not everything that happens on a farm can be controlled by a robot now or in the future. Deep down, I can’t help thinking that’s a good thing.