Farmer and land manager input can deliver a better Agriculture Bill

Press Release

Calls for a draft Rural Support Plan to be published before the new Scottish agriculture bill becomes law have been backed by Scottish Land & Estates.

Following the Stage 1 debate on the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill on Wednesday, the rural business organisation said that earlier publication of the support plan, which would detail the government’s priorities for providing support in a five-year period, would help farmers and land managers make progress in transitioning to a new subsidy scheme.

Eleanor Kay, Senior Policy Adviser – Agriculture & Climate Change at Scottish Land & Estates, said:

“The Stage 1 debate was important in recognising many of the issues that currently exist with the Bill - but it is also frustrating that party political arguments continue to detract from the detailed examination that Scottish farmers and land managers need from our politicians.

“Budget is crucial, of course, and it is essential that allocation of funding from Westminster is multi-annual and delivered using a clear methodology as recommended by the Bew review. However, the debate was a missed opportunity to focus firmly on the need for improvements in this very important framework bill.

“There is an opportunity at Stage 2 to make changes to this Bill and to bring farmers and land managers into the tent and commit to codesigning the code of practice and support plans that are outlined in the legislation. This is something that the First Minister committed to only last month but we need to see action on.

“We fully support the calls from Labour and Conservatives that a draft of the Rural Support Plan must be delivered very soon, ideally before the Bill reaches stage 3 but at the very minimum within six months of the bill passing.

“The caution regarding capping from many MSPs is also welcome. Without impact assessments and modelling, capping should be firmly off the table, particularly with new payments regimes which are more closely linked to beneficial outcomes. 

“We are pleased that SLE’s concerns about the importance of an academic advisory group and stakeholder support in the rural support plan and code of practice was recognised - in particular that this role should not just fall to the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board.”

Ms Kay added that the information from the Scottish Government on future farming payments from 2025, published in the Agricultural Reform Route Map this week, was encouraging.

Eleanor continued: “It was good to finally receive some clarity on the 2025 changes, particularly the whole farm plan requirements. It Is really important that the Scottish Government works with stakeholders to clearly communicate these changes to all farmers and land managers and that awareness raising continues as more detail becomes available this summer.

“The announcement that work already completed through assurance schemes will be accepted for the whole farm plan is great news and we now await details on which schemes will be granted equivalence.

“We continue to ask government to review the uptake of the ‘preparing for sustainable farming’ scheme, in particular the soil assessment uptake.

“There are still concerns within the sector that payment rates do not adequately support the work required and that is why we continue to call for impact assessments and modelling from government. If government is going to achieve the transformative change it desires then only through intensive research will we be able to truly understand the scale of the challenge and where investment should be targeted.”