More answers demanded on future rural payments
THE Scottish Government has kicked off a series of online and face-to-face meetings with a webinar on the Agricultural bill consultation.
The meeting was watched by over 80 people who listened to presentations and were able to ask questions. Next is a series of eight in person meetings across Scotland where senior civil servants will explain the Government’s plans and respond to questions.
Since the consultation’s launch last month, many people have felt shortchanged by the lack of detail in the proposals, whilst others in the agricultural sector have felt farming has been forgotten.
Fife farmer Kathy Peebles, who watched Thursday’s webinar, said: “There is a lot more work needing to be done to flesh out the proposed Bill. I appreciate that this is taxpayer’s money, but food production and security for the nation appears to be a very small part of the overall vision and potential payment system.
“With the various plans to gain additional payment support I fear there may be a danger that active farmers will find them all too difficult to complete without the assistance of a consultant. But as I said, we do not yet have the finer detail as to what the proposed system will actually involve on a practical level nor the amount of funding available to the industry.”
Also watching the online event was former NFUS president Andrew McCornick, who said:
“I found this webinar enlightening as much for what was not answered as was. There was a clear commitment to conditional support for Scottish producers but no answers on budgets or payment rates. It will be an income support mechanism and ScotGov does not support the premise that it should deliver a sustainable profitable agriculture industry.
“The metrics for measuring the conditionalities are still being worked on with a belief that Carbon metrics were easier than for nature. The Bill has to deliver on the Scottish Government Vision which was published in March. It was made clear that the Scottish Government were speaking to all of rural Scotland on an Agriculture Bill delivering on significant change on land use in Scotland and meeting climate change and nature targets.
“I came away with the belief that the agenda was clearly set and it was stated there was no intention of doing formal consultations like this in the next stages of the Bill where the details will be,” said Mr McCornick. “There was much more emphasis on the whole food chain rather than primary producers. Unlike with CAP, any monies are destined for a much broader suite of rural Scotland. There was a recurring theme of quality food which begs the question of who is going to feed our nation. My question was on what modelling showed as the impact of these changes on Agricultural output never got past the ‘ under review’ stage on my screen.”
Agri consultant Kev Bevan has this to say about the session: “The emphasis on ‘local’ seems odd given that Scotland is a big food exporter. While whisky is our headline export, the price of our cattle, pigs, lambs, milk, seed potatoes, salmon, shellfish and soft fruit also depend on markets beyond Scotland. Processing these products supports a lot of jobs and adds much value to the Scottish economy.
“Competing in these export markets and our home market has become harder owing to the trade deals recently agreed with the EU, Australia and New Zealand. The new support regime should surely aim to improve our competitiveness in the marketplace in its broadest sense.”
Senior land use policy officer at RSPB Scotland, Andrew Midgley, said: “The meeting gave an opportunity to hear more about the government’s thinking and the online format seemed to work quite well, but I still came away wanting a bit more detail. I understand the meetings are to raise awareness of the consultation and that the consultation is specifically about the powers that the government should have to deliver rural policy, but it is difficult to answer questions about the proposals without more detail.
“In general we are hopeful that the government is heading in a positive direction, but at the moment we do not know for certain. The government talks about becoming a world leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture—which sounds positive—but what does the government think that actually looks like in 10 to 15 years’ time? Greater clarity is needed. This isn’t just our organisation; many people are crying out for more of a steer from government,” said Mr Midgley.
“It was clear from the meeting that some farmers were anxious that too much focus was on biodiversity and climate change measures and not enough was on food production. We think we do need to see more of an emphasis on nature and climate, but we don’t think this means no focus on food production. Clearly we need food, and we need farmers to be producing food. But farmers also have a huge role to play in reducing emissions and restoring nature. So we need a system that supports the industry to deliver all of these, not just one or the other.”
The upcoming meeting dates are:
October 25 - Aberdeenshire;
November 1 - Oban;
November 3 - Scottish Borders;
November 8 - Stirling;
November 10 - Dumfries & Galloway;
November 14 - Ayrshire. In addition to the in-person events, there will also be four online virtual events focusing on specific themes included in the Bill. The four thematic events will cover:
September 29 - Delivering the Agricultural Vision;
October 27 - Rural Development and Forestry;
November 9 - Agricultural Wages;
November 15 - Modernising Agricultural Tenancies.