Why farming matters to conservation and RSPB Scotland
Making a living from farming is never straightforward at the best of times but sometimes events conspire to make it particularly challenging. This year’s poor summer weather combined with difficult market conditions (exacerbated by Russia’s President Putin banning much EU produce) coupled with changes afoot in CAP support regimes are taking their toll, with many farmers and crofters facing financial uncertainty and concern for their future.
This matters not just for farmers but for all of us given the vital role farming plays, not only producing food but also managing our natural environment and determining the fate of much of our valued wildlife and landscapes. It is in all our interests to ensure that farming is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable, both now and for future generations.
These are some of the issues we touched upon at a recent meeting with the NFUS President, Vice President and staff. Although RSPB Scotland and NFUS may not always see eye to eye, I suspect there is much we can agree on when it comes to thinking about the future of farming. Some of this is set out in the Scottish Government’s document ‘The Future of Scottish Agriculture’, published this summer.
First and foremost, I’m sure we can all agree that farmers should be paid a fair share of the price of food. We would go further and argue that the price of food should properly reflect the cost of producing it, including the costs of good environmental management. I think we would also all agree that farming should be part of a profitable and sustainable food and drink sector, be a sector that offers rewarding careers and is populated by trained and skilled individuals. Farming must, above all else be resilient and adaptable to the challenges that it will inevitably face, be they economic ones such as price volatility or environmental ones such as climate change.
As an organisation, we recognise the invaluable role that farming plays in supporting wildlife in Scotland. The management of many of our own nature reserves depends on the extensive grazing of livestock to create the right pasture conditions for birds such as lapwing and curlew and, in some places, we farm directly ourselves in order to achieve our nature conservation objectives. Elsewhere, Scotland’s ‘High Nature Value’ farming and crofting, as seen typically in the hills and islands, is the last refuge of species like corncrake, and many scarce plants, and bees and butterflies.
But we also don’t shy away from raising awareness of the serious declines in wildlife that are occurring in Scotland,and highlighting environmental problems in our countryside which result from certain, usually more intensive farming practices. Our members would expect nothing less. Nor are we hesitant about demanding the Scottish Government does more to provide the right policies and funding that will support environmentally responsible farming.
All is not well currently and we believe that farming does need to be greener - much greener in terms of the ‘public goods’ it should sustain and produce. We therefore support the Government’s aim for Scotland to be a ‘world leader in green farming’. Achieving this objective requires some significant changes in our current approach to farming; business as usual is not enough to meet that laudable aim.
Of course, greener farming will never be achieved unless farmers believe it is important and take the necessary action. You don’t have to be passionate about birds and other wildlife – although we know some farmers are – to see that caring for the environment makes good business sense. Sustainable food production can’t happen without well managed, fertile soils, insects to pollinate crops, or a stable climate to work in.
Reducing the use of expensive pesticides and fertilisers not only helps the environment but saves money too. Marketing Scottish produce under ‘green’ branding may help increase returns to farmers, but is only feasible if such brands have real environmental credentials – consumer confidence is a fragile beast that businesses ignore at their peril. It would be good if farm accreditation schemes that encourage us to buy Scottish or British produce recognised this and helped improve the contribution made by farming. This is something we are willing to explore with NFUS and others.
Meanwhile, farm businesses that have diversified into tourism activities know better than most that people will only come and spend their money if there is something worth visiting. For eco-tourism in particular, it is a wildlife rich countryside, good access and wildlife spectacles that draw the crowds. We can help with our advisory outreach, providing farmers with practical and low cost land management options (often tested on our own ground), to encourage the wildlife on their farms or crofts.
We have, I believe, a common agenda. It is not, and shouldn’t be ‘farming vs environment’ but all of us working together to ensure a better and sustainable future for the things we all care about.