A ‘rally’ or a ‘demo’

WHILE it is good to see NFU Scotland rallying its troops for a celebration of Scottish food production – planned for November 2 (see ‘Farmers go to Holyrood’ on our front cover story – there are many of its grass roots members who would like the ‘rally’ part of it turned into more of a ‘demonstration’ and with a rather harder edge to it.

The fact that there’s been a £33m cash grab from the sector by John Swinney in the Scottish budget had angered many and there’s been hardly a whimper from the industry lobbyists, which, we have to suspect, is down to the pacifying effect of a ‘good year’, weather wise, for many.

Whilst this might have blind-sided some into thinking things were OK, for the longer term what is the plan for Scottish Agriculture plc? Where’s the strategic direction needed for farmers to make long term plans (or even short to medium term budgeting) when they know that changes are afoot, but know not where they might lead?

That’s all the more reason to stop being mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed a load of s...t) and make sure that Government is made well aware that the industry is fed up of being held back by the slowly churning wheels of decision-making that are inevitable from the myriad of committees that have been set up to provide clarity.

It’s time to stop the obfuscation that comes about from the committee approach and see some real, individual leadership. We suspect that there is some political desire to do just that and make some real and telling decisions, but at the moment the process is on a Civil Service-inspired roundabout where everyone is clinging on tight in case they fall off!

The industry can live with and try to turn around even some poorly constructed plans once decisions have been made, but the problem is, no clear cut conclusions have been forthcoming and the word ‘green’ still seems to hold sway over the word ‘production’. While there’s a few disparate bones kicking around, there’s not enough to make a skeleton upon which to hang some meat!