Teach children importance of food choices
THERE’S lots of talk of a green recovery in the coming months but with budgets cash-strapped due to the ongoing pandemic, any public spending on green investments will have to deliver tangible public goods.
Last week, Scotland’s National Farming Union launched its manifesto ahead of the Holyrood elections this May, putting forward a strong case to the next Scottish Government as to why investment in Scottish agriculture must be considered a priority.
Newly elected President Martin Kennedy was frank about it. The focus has to be on the economic and environmental recovery of a country which is struggling. He stressed that you “create return by investing in the people who are in pole position to deliver green targets and this comes down to those farming and managing the land”.
This should not be about subsidising individuals and businesses for simply owning land. That’s now an archaic notion which festered under the EU’S Common Agricultural Policy – but instead about targeted future support to active farmers and crofters. Those who are producing food for the nation in a sustainable way that works alongside the environment, boosting biodiversity and ensuring the survival of rural communities.
For the past five years, Brexit has dominated policy discussions, stymieing progressive discussion on rural policy in Scotland. The time has come for effective engagement on ways in which rural Scotland can play an active part in delivering social, environmental, and economic goods for wider society.
The importance of Scotland’s farming industry became abundantly clear during the pandemic with the nation undergoing a radical change in buying behaviour, turning to local food producers, and reverting back to traditional habits of visiting butchers and signing up for milk bottle deliveries.
The empty supermarket shelves served as a reminder of the fragility of our supply chains and how demand for produce, irrespective of seasonality, had driven demand for imports of certain foodstuffs year-round. The carbon footprint attached to this type of buying behaviour is often ignored as people offshore responsibility abroad.
A permanent change in consumer attitudes is needed and this can only be achieved through educating consumers on their food choices. The best place to start is in our schools. It is high time that conversations about food production are implemented in the national curriculum and not just left to the responsibility of the valiant rural organisations who are working diligently to deliver facts on food and farming to pupils across the country with very limited financial resources.
Children deserve to grow up knowing where their food comes from, to be armed with the facts to make informed decisions on food choices which will benefit not only their health but the environment. The Royal Highland Education Trust and the Royal Northern Countryside Initiative are two examples of fantastic organisations that, prior to the pandemic, were going into schools and delivering talks to pupils on food and farming, as well as organising field trips out on to farms. But there is a need for policy change to make sure all pupils have equal access to this information, not just schools where head teachers come from a farming background – which is often the case.
This isn’t change that is going to happen overnight, but the buy-local legacy of the pandemic is a perfect springboard for the next Scottish Government to build upon. This is very much a green investment in the next generation, who will in turn go on to make more sustainable food choices. That’s an investment that cannot be overstated.
With Holyrood elections approaching, policy promises around climate change are going to be high on the list of party priorities. In November this year, the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference (COP26) is coming to Glasgow, and Scotland is going to be under scrutiny on a world stage.
In the weeks ahead we will no doubt hear from all political parties how increased tree planting targets will play a huge part in their fight to achieve net zero emissions by 2045. Only last week, Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy Fergus Ewing confirmed that despite the pandemic, Scotland is on target to plant 12,000 hectares this financial year – the equivalent of more than 22,000 football pitches.
The Scottish Government is currently on track to plant 18,000 hectares per year from 2024/25. Indeed, Scotland might be leading the way in treeplanting in the UK– with 82 per cent of new UK plantings taking place in Scotland – but simply increasing tree planting targets in single pursuit of carbon sequestration is a policy which must be scrutinised and revised.
Turning over agricultural land to forestry can come at a cost to sustainable food production, biodiversity, and rural communities. So, I’d argue that it must be done in tandem with farming, not as an either/ or. Blanket tree planting initiatives need to instead shift towards farm woodlands, stitched into the agricultural landscape to add value to the farm business without compromising food production. The fact is, we need to get more aggressive with an agro-forestry policy where the two complement each other.
In 2018, the natural economy – which Scottish farmers are integral in managing and protecting – contributed more than £29 billion gross value added to the Scottish economy and was responsible for employing 11% of Scotland’s workforce.
So, the next Scottish Government has an opportunity to design a bespoke agricultural support system which will set the course of direction for many years to come, determining the role Scottish agriculture has to play as part of the green recovery and longer term, as part of the climate solution, rather than a cause of it.
It is vital that future support is geared towards incentivising and rewarding sustainable food production which works in tandem with supporting the natural environment. But this investment must go hand in hand with educating future generations on responsible food choices, to encourage them to play their part in supporting a greener Scotland.