Opinion: Political ‘boorach’ leaves Scottish farmers in limbo
Humza Yousaf © Russell Cheyne/Reuters /Adobe Stock There is often a Scottish word to describe every situation. “Boorach” succinctly sums up the muddle, mess and confusion within politics at the moment.
The SNP is clearly not keen on being outdone by the Conservatives, who have descended into full-scale civil war.
A party once united around the push towards independence, it is facing all hopes of this dream diminishing as the cracks in party lines break into the public domain.
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However, out of the battle has emerged our new first minister, the continuity candidate who, by all accounts, has made a political career from failing upwards.
It was always likely that Humza Yousaf’s new cabinet would see a reshuffle.
The rural affairs brief seems to be the job no one wants, and he offered it to his leadership rival, who turned it down.
It is reassuring to see we might get some continuity as it returns to Mairi Gougeon.
Sadly, though, it appears to be a job unfairly viewed as a dead end for aspiring politicians.
To me, this is undeserved, as 98% of Scotland is rural and this provides one-third of Scotland’s annual income.
The opportunity to effect real, meaningful change is tangible and it’s positioned ideally to tackle the priority issues of climate and biodiversity.
So why has the role become something of a straw man, often involving warm words and no action?
This may be down to the very effective lobbying from rural sectors – which, it could be argued, fight venomously against any form of change, opting mostly for the “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality.
I’m more convinced than ever that unpopular reform is coming in the new agricultural bill, and no one wants their name attached to it.
Reading between the lines, this change will not focus on growing the rural economy or food production, but instead put net zero at the forefront, at the expense of investing in rural communities.
This will be deeply unpopular, not only with farmers but many other businesses built on the back of decades of farms reinvesting their incomes locally and ultimately ensuring rural communities can survive.
I’m not so sure vast tree-planting projects and rewilding will provide similar routes to rural prosperity.
So where will this leave farming in Scotland?
It’s an industry that can’t hide its reliance on the income that subsidy provides, not just by providing a comfort blanket for individual businesses but in many cases their life support.
I don’t believe the industry has fully awoken to the reality that support income may not be as certain as it has been in the past.
The truth is that a static budget, with ag inflation at 20%, is a real-term cut already.
For too long, farmers have been sheltered from the reality of running a business exposed to markets.
That may not be easy to hear for some, but if future success is hinged on government policy, I fear they will be destined to fail.
What lies ahead is anyone’s guess, but my advice would be to not wait on the answers, but position your businesses to stand on its own feet, whichever way it can.
Anything that comes after that will be a bonus.