Rachael Hamilton MSP urged the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Mairi Gougeon MSP, to work with farmers to find a solution to the rising cost of agricultural inputs.
In light of the war in Ukraine, there have been increasing pressures on farmers with the rising cost of fuel and fertilisers.
In a session of Rural Affairs Questions in Holyrood last week, the Borders MSP took the opportunity to ask if the Cabinet Secretary had made any progress in implementing key action points identified by NFU Scotland.
NFU Scotland were clear that the Scottish Government must:
• roll out Track 1 of the National Test Programme with utmost urgency. Introducing soil testing and nutrient management planning will enable all farmers and crofters to be more input (nutrient) efficient.
• commit greater funding to the Sustainable Agricultural Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS) to assist farmers to use resources more efficiently
• temporarily suspend the Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) component of the 2022 Greening requirements to bring additional arable land back into productive use – with a focus on EFA fallow land being used for nitrogen-fixing protein crops.
• implement a rapid (and continuous) food production impact assessment of all existing and new legislation and policy affecting agricultural land use and practice, by implementing a food security impact check to avoid undermining the potential for food production and/or increasing costs of food production.
• to make Food Security Impact Assessments an immediate requirement of any application for largescale forestry expansion on productive agricultural land. In the current food security crisis, all productive land should be prioritised for food production rather than carbon offsetting by non-agricultural businesses.
So far only Track 1 has been adopted, with farmers feeling let down by a lack of adequate funding for the Sustainable Agricultural Capital Grant Scheme.
Mrs Hamilton believes that EFA rules are temporarily suspended for farmers, in order to bring more land back into productive use, to help alleviate the impact of rising food prices for consumers.
The Borders MSP wants urgent action ahead of harvest to ensure that all steps are taken to avoid skyrocketing food prices and crippling input costs for farmers.
Rachael Hamilton MSP said:
“I don’t think the SNP Government has fully grasped the difficult decisions facing farmers right now.
“There are simple changes they could make urgently, such as relaxing EFA rules and increasing funding to support more capital investment in farm businesses.
“Recently we have seen the SNP Government pass the buck onto Westminster, yet they have the powers through the Scottish Parliament to make changes now.
“We have yet to see any detail from the Food Security Taskforce, with it being created over a month ago.
“As the weeks past, and the dreadful war wages on in Ukraine, the SNP Government need to tackle food security issues here in Scotland, to avoid the squeeze on ordinary families”.
