The festive season is fast approaching and thoughts turn inevitably to Christmas wish lists and the gifts we’d like to buy for our loved ones. Children everywhere are penning, texting and maybe even tweeting their most wanted lists to Santa, as anxious parents examine their bank accounts and decide what might make it down the chimney.
Politicians don’t often join the Christmas pageant and don a red suit but they, perhaps more than most of us, have the potential to give the gifts that keep on giving. Just like hard-pressed families, their pockets aren’t endless though and in these financially difficult times, they too have tough choices to make which they know might end in tantrums on Christmas morning. Which brings me to the key question-how will the Scottish Government use the farming budget secured from the taxpayer in the years ahead?
By Christmas, Richard Lochhead, our Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, has to decide what to spend some of his farming budget on over the next seven years. That budget is a whopping £4 billion and what he buys with it will affect every man, woman and child in Scotland and beyond. The vast majority of that money (about 90%) is given to farmers as general support to maintain farm production (ie to keep them farming). The cheques usually land on the doormat in December so Mr Lochhead can expect some happy farmers* as they sit down to the Christmas turkey. The much smaller share is used to fund what’s known as Scotland’s Rural Development Programme (SRDP) and includes payments for wildlife friendly farming, forestry, business and community development, and the diversification of farm businesses, amongst other things. It’s not exactly a logical division of resources. It owes a lot to history, and the share of ‘voice’ afforded different sectors, rather than being a plan for the modern era. In fact, to continue the festive analogy it’s a lot like giving one of your kids an X-Box and the other one an Etch-a-Sketch for Christmas. Bound to be tears before bedtime!
To balance things up a bit and, more importantly, to help meet some really key environmental targets that the Scottish Government has set itself, Mr Lochhead can decide to transfer 15% of funds from the general support pot into the next Rural Development Programme – a transfer worth around £76 million each year. If that money were then used to boost existing funds for environmentally friendly farming and land management, Mr Lochhead could give the most long-lasting gifts of all. An investment in a countryside rich in wildlife, clean water and a stable climate that would benefit us and our children down the generations. With such a transfer of funds, the money would still go to farmers and rural areas – and vital food production would continue – but it would leave a lasting environmental legacy and add value and substance to the claims of our food producers about the quality of Scottish produce, and the countryside that produces it. It would provide a competitive edge that would benefit many in the Scottish economy.
Sustainable wildlife friendly farming, that produces high quality produce is the top thing on my Christmas wish list and Richard Lochhead is just the man to make my wish come true.
If you want more funding for wildlife friendly farming, send an e-mail to Mr Lochhead here.
*The RSPB is also a land manager and farmer and receives both types of farm support – general support and rural development funding. The money we receive is spent on the land management and farm staff on our nature reserves across the UK, which in Scotland provide homes for some of our most amazing wildlife and landscapes, and produce prize winning store cattle (pictured above).