Stark, hard goals need to be set to meet the tough targets being set for the farming industry on climate change and biodiversity, a former NFUS president has claimed.
But speaking at an expert panel discussion at the Royal Highland Show, Borders farmer and co-chair of the Farming for 1.5 Nigel Miller added that it was “madness” to believe that everything being asked of the industry could be delivered on a budget which, in real terms, continued to decline.
“The sector needs to be properly rewarded for the results which it is being asked to deliver – and if, as perceived wisdom seems to indicate, it is expected to do this on the existing budget, the whole thing will crash,” warned Miller, who was speaking at the event organised by the SRUC.
In response, senior policy formulator with the Scottish Government, John Kerr said that “difficult trade-offs” would be required to increase the budget, and conceded that while green finance was expected to plug some of the funding gap, this sector was not yet sufficiently developed for producers to become involved in without incurring considerable risks.
He also indicated that getting the split in the budget between direct payments and those targeted for environmental enhancement would be a balancing act – as would setting how rigorous to set the voluntary measures in order to ensure sufficient uptake by farmers and crofters on the ground.
When asked what would happen to any unclaimed portion of the budget if uptake was poor, he stressed that the cabinet secretary “would be livid” if the funds weren’t reaching the sector.
“Our objective is to get the money out to you and we are working with NFUS and the wider industry to make sure that we can do this to best effect,” he told the farming audience.
