Scottish Crofting Federation (SCF) has welcomed the direction of travel recommended by the Scottish Government ‘Agricultural Champions’ in their report “A Future Strategy for Scottish Agriculture” citing it as “croft-proofed”.
“We were concerned about the lack of coverage of crofting in the interim report but the Champions have taken on board our response. The report has been ‘croft-proofed’ and there is much that we can heartily endorse,” said the chair of SCF, Russell Smith. “For example, when discussing Natural Capital the Champions acknowledge that Scotland has huge areas of less favoured permanent grassland and rough grazing, where high nature value farming is both traditional and common. They recommend that, ‘Future policies must address the specific needs of this type of farming, including the fact that low profitability threatens its very survival.’ This is indeed the case for our members and ties in with the recent study carried out for the Highlands and Islands Agricultural Support Group.” Read more…….
