How might our farmers adapt to a public money for public goods regime?

It is clear that our rich and diverse environment is not only important for our own leisure and recreation but is also increasingly recognised as making an essential contribution to society’s health and wellbeing. As a nation we also trade on the high quality of Scotland’s environment in order to attract tourists and sell products from our farming, forestry and fishing industries.

So maintaining, and where necessary improving, the health of our environment is therefore of fundamental importance to achieving a healthy, sustainable Scotland.

But while much of our environment is of relatively good quality, there are still challenges to be addressed.

Ongoing climate change is having an increasingly adverse economic impact on all levels of society, as evidenced by regular floods in towns and villages and storm damage to farmland and forests. Improving water quality, managing flood risk, protecting soils and reversing biodiversity decline are other key areas where improvements are required.

For all these challenges wider society is looking for changes in land and water management to help deliver the improvements. And of course, we cannot divorce what happens in the water environment from what happens on land. Both are inextricably linked.

So what type of public goods can farmers across Scotland help provide?