£4m funding boost for Scots farmers
Budding farmers in Scotland are to have access to a pot of more than £4 million to help them pursue new careers.
The latest award will see 81 successful applicants receive a share of the Scottish Government funding. It comes as part of the New Entrant Startup Grant and Young Farmer Start-up Grant schemes.
Rural Secretary Fergus Ewing: “It’s vital to the sustainability of agriculture in Scotland that we do everything in our power to encourage new entrants to farming.”
With the release of the Scottish Land Commission’s review of the conduct of land agents earlier this week, those involved in the sector have been offered the opportunity to feed in their comments on the findings before the final report is submitted to the Scottish Government.
The Tenant Farming Commissioner (TFC), Dr Bob Mcintosh, said that the survey had seen 914 tenant farmers covering a total of 1,278 tenancies and 121 landlords holding 1,705 tenancies interviewed by phone.
He said that while there had been a wide range of responses, the majority had indicated that their interactions with agents had been satisfactory.
However, 17 per cent of both tenant farmers and landlords had been dissatisfied with the agent they had dealt with – and Mcintosh said that a sample of these had been re-interviewed to dig deeper into the reasons for dissatisfaction.
Agents often played an important role in the relationship between landlord and tenant said Mcintosh – who added that a good agent could deliver for the client, uphold sound professional standards and avoid souring the landlord/ tenant relationship.
“It is the responsibility of everyone involved to work together to ensure that this approach is the norm,” said Mcintosh.
However, the initial feedback from organisations showed a wide interpretation of the findings.
The landowners’ organisation, Scottish Land & Estates (SL&E), said it was positive news that 82 per cent of tenant farmers and 88 per cent of landlords described their relations as good or very good.
Sarah-jane Laing, SL&E executive director, said the results demonstrated that the vast majority of relationships between tenants and landlords were “positive and productive” for both parties. “The role of agents within negotiations has often been the cause of heated discussion within the industry but the survey demonstrates that the vast majority of agents are conducting their work with politeness, professionalism and integrity.”
However, the chairman of the Scottish Tenant Farming Association, Christopher Nicholson, said the review highlighted the fact that one in six landlords and tenants were dissatisfied with their interaction with agents. “While we recognise that the majority of land agents are operating fairly, efficiently and complying with codes of practice, there remains a small minority who refuse to change their ways and continue to practice in an unacceptable manner,” said Nicholson.
He said that due to the concentrated pattern of land management in Scotland, a few maverick agents could have a disproportionate effect on the tenanted sector as a whole, adding: “We look forward to working with the Commissioner on the findings of this review and rooting out the rotten apples from the barrel.”
Gail Hunter, director of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, welcomed the broadly positive feedback from the review.
“However, this survey has also uncovered a number of salient issues around land agent behaviour and the affect it can have on the rural landlord-tenant relationship”, she said adding that despite the fact that the review had not indicated if the problem agents had been regulated by her organisation’s code of practice, the 17 per cent dissatisfaction figure was significant – and one which “could not be ignored”.