Food “bottom of the pile” in Scottish government priorities

Scottish ministers’ obsession with climate change and biodiversity has left food production “noticeably bottom of the pile” on the government’s priority list, according to NFU Scotland president Martin Kennedy.

In a punchy opening address to the union’s annual conference in Glasgow today, Mr Kennedy said it was right to reduce emissions from farming and improve nature, but food should not be an afterthought.

See also: Farm leaders warn of huge contraction in UK food production

“What always astounds me is the lack of recognition that without what in many people’s eyes is the least important – food production – we will not be able to address any of the former challenges ahead, as we will not have the people on the ground with the skills, knowledge and technology to do it for us,” he added.

Mr Kennedy went on to say the protection of beavers had caused serious problems for Scottish farmers and the policy to translocate the animals, agreed in an SNP-Green partnership, would cost the country “tens of millions of pounds” in damage to agriculture, the natural environment and public safety.

He pointed to the example of damage to a flood bank protecting high-value crop land which had cost £50,000 to reinstate.

“Who is paying for this damage?” he asked.

“This cannot continue or we will simply revert to more imports.”

The UK government was also the subject of criticism from Mr Kennedy, who suggested the recent expansion of the Seasonal Workers scheme did not go far enough.

“We are currently lobbying hard to get the seasonal agricultural workers pilot up to 55,000 and to address the issues around the costs involved with visas,” he said.

“If we do not get this addressed soon, we might not be in the position to even attract these essential workers to the UK, especially as other countries are becoming more attractive. The alternative is just to import from other countries.”