Time to grasp the nettle says wholesalers’ chief

The time has come for politicians and policy-makers to grasp the nettle of stagnation in Scottish farm productivity with both hands.

Looking forward to this week’s Highland show, the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW) has called for prompt action – not more words or further industry analysis.

Speaking in hope of some major policy announcement at the event, SAMW president Frank Clark said: “The Royal Highland Show has often been the launchpad for new farming initiatives but this week’s event needs instead to be a dynamic launch-pad for decisive and positive action.”

He said that the recently published agricultural champions report “said it all” in terms of the current state of the industry and where it needed to get itself to over the next five to ten years in order to secure a sustainable and profitable future for all parts of the supply chain.

He added that while many reports in the past had contained excellent recommendations, they often had not been acted upon:

“As we hurtle towards an uncertain post-brexit world we simply can’t afford to make the same mistakes again.” 0 Warning from SAMW president Frank Clark

SAMW, he said, had been calling for government action to arrest the decline in livestock numbersforanumberofyears– but still with no sign of any sustained improvement in output:

“Thankfully, the agchamps report hit this issue head-on, using the word ‘stagnation’ to describe the current state of Scottish farm productivity,” said Clark.

“It also called for a mindset change across Scottish agriculture with future funding being targeted to produce results in a progressive, entrepreneurial and resilient manner.

“In addition, dealing specifically with farm output stagnation, the ag-champs said that future income support measures should include

He also supported a return to headage payments where appropriate, alongside a major new focus on policies and schemes to support production efficiency.

Cutting current levels of wastage due to avoidable animal diseases and production inefficiency was also rightly highlighted as areas which can and should improve.

“Another quote from the report, stated that ‘this time the Scottish Government, with potentially fewer restrictions on its actions in future, has the opportunity to take forward our recommendations and, working with the industry, make a real difference’.

“We could spend a lot more time discussing the details of all this, of course, including who might win and who might lose as a result. For once, however, let’s just get on with it.”

He said that SAMW fully agreed with that sentiment.

“We are at pivotal stage for our industry and ministers and policy makers must grasp the nettle with both hands. As a result, the 2018 Royal Highland Show will hopefully go down in history as the turning point when Scottish livestock production started to grow again,” he said.

But he also issued a warning.

“If that doesn’t happen, and the stagnation of our flagship livestock sector is allowed go unchecked, we could be looking at the Ingliston showground hosting a much smaller gathering in future years,” he concluded.