A consultation on the Scottish Government’s forthcoming agriculture bill has been launched, which it hopes will make Scotland a global leader in sustainable and regenerative farming.
The climate change plan from the Scottish Government aims to achieve a 31% reduction in agricultural emissions by 2032.
Public views are now being sought on food production, fair income for farmers and protecting biodiversity.
Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “We are supporting our farmers, crofters and land managers to produce more high quality and sustainable food, as well as ensuring out food system is more resilient.
“The fact is that high-quality food production is very much part of meeting our net zero targets and dealing with the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.
“We have ambitious targets and right across the agriculture sector we have the talent and skills to meet our aims - I would urge people from all walks of life to get involved and make their views known, these issues affect us all.”
Other proposals include plans to develop resilient rural and island communities, including financial support for rural development and the rural economy.
The consultation looks at measures to modernise tenant farming, including providing tenants with the same opportunity to adapt to the future as the rest of Scottish agriculture, which would allow them to play their part in supporting biodiversity.
Fair work conditions, including the real living wage, for agriculture workers are also part of the plans, along with views on making subsidy payments that establish minimum standards for animal health and welfare.
The consultation is open for responses until November. It will include a series of online and in-person events to gather the views of stakeholders and the public.
The bill is expected in 2023 to enable the delivery of the Scottish Government’s vision for agriculture.
Paul Richardson, policy adviser for agriculture and climate change at Scottish Land & Estates, said: “There is a huge challenge for decades to come in balancing three key demands from Scotland’s land: ensuring food security and sustaining high quality food production, using land to tackle climate change and finally, reversing the substantial biodiversity loss of recent decades.
“Our organisation had said previously that 50% of payments should be made to support active farming businesses, with the additional support available for measures to improve biodiversity, carbon sequestration and wider natural capital.
“The government appears to be aligned with our thinking, but it will be important to work through the precise detail of what is proposed in the coming months.
“It is vital that the views of those with practical land management experience - Scotland’s farmers, crofters, and land managers - are taken account of by government, as they will be critical to delivering significant public goods in the coming decades.”
NFU Scotland president Martin Kennedy said: “Instead of more plans and declarations, we need a policy that supports farm output, supports the measures that will help us cut our carbon footprint and supports the measures that will enhance biodiversity.
“The Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board, which I co-chair, has discussed these measures.
“With fertiliser 300% higher than last year, electricity prices quadrupled and diesel costs through the roof, the industry doesn’t have time to wait for detail; production is falling and we need the Scottish Government to say how it is going to halt this decline and give farmers the confidence to keep going for the future.
“This consultation is about delivering the necessary powers, but it does not fill the yawning policy gap that our members want to see filled,” he continued, adding: ”If the Scottish Government had listened to the industry years ago and decided then, we could have been started on this journey.”
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