Park farms would face problems

Robert Macdonald’s farming operation was one of three anonymous case studies from the Cairngorms National Park used at NFU Scotland’s Cap greening conference in Edinburgh earlier this week.

All the farmers involved face problems with the greening measures as they stand.

Mrmacdonald agreed to waive his anonymity and voice his concerns.

One of the other farms was a tenanted unit with 150 sucklers and 650 ewes and which grows barley, swedes and grass.

Its area of turnips is below the minimum sought by the EC. To meet the threshold thefarmerwould have to grow more of the crop. That would force its more frequent appearance in rotations to the overall detriment of the farm as that would increase clubroot risks.

It could not afford to reseed grass every five years to avoid the permanent designation and would instead have to use more high- cost fertiliser to ensure sufficient grazing and fodder. But that would increase production costs.

The farm could reduce the swede crop and increase the area for silage, but that is again at a higher cost. It could grow oats on 5% of the land, but harvest facilities on the farm are limited.

Another 30 farmers in the national park will be asked their opinions on the greening plan as part of the NFU investigation on how it would affect Scottish upland farming.

The UK is involved in a coalition of EU states which are developing alternatives to the plans.