Government support payments for crofters should be inflation linked

COLUMN: From the Croft by Russell Smith

I’ll start by looking at the prices from the Lairg sales again. Gimmers were slightly up on last year (by around 3 per cent); ewes were down slightly (by less than 1 per cent). This continues the trend from earlier sales where prices are generally on a level with last year. In some years that would have been okay but this year inflation is running at high levels for feed, diesel, fertilizer and everything else so profitability is getting squeezed. This in turn puts pressure on other sources of income for those who have them. Tourism seems to be mixed – have we now passed peak glamping pods and motor home stop overs?

Of course, the other main source of income for most crofters is the government support payments – this year BPS and greening was paid (for us, anyway) on October 3. So that is good. But we aren’t a great deal further forward in knowing the future payment scheme. The bill out for consultation just now describes the framework for a payment system but not the details of the individual parts and definitely not any indication of the total amount of the payments to be distributed. It would be difficult to argue for an increase in funding when health and social care budgets are under so much strain but we need to be pressing for an inflation linked level of payment. I thought we had more or less agreed the framework over a year ago and now we are being asked to sign up to a bill which gives the Scottish Government complete freedom to implement schemes later with reduced scrutiny and with short lead times to debate the effects. And currently there is no published modelling about who will be winners and losers under the new approach. The phrase “buying a pig in a poke” springs to mind.

The Scottish Crofting Federation are organising a meeting Lairg in early November to go through the details we have so far and so you can have your say. Watch the press for confirmation of time and place. It is important that crofters’ points of view are got over to the government. Get it right and crofting and remote, peripheral communities can prosper, get it wrong and...

I have also reported before on a project to recycle farm plastics locally reducing the cost to crofters as well as being more environmentally friendly then burning or burying (now banned) or transporting to the other end of the country for processing. And turning the waste material into useful products that can be sold locally. This work has now progressed beyond the research and testing stage and Re:Circulate Sutherland are looking for crofters in Sutherland to get involved in recycling silage wrap, tote bags, feed bags and buckets. If you have plastic you want rid of, please email kevin.worrall@recirculatesutherland.com and we will get a group together to develop the best way of taking things forward.

Finally, we managed a few days away and got the opportunity to visit the Great Tapestry of Scotland in Galashiels - this is a superb piece of work and well worth a few hours visit if you are in the area. 169 panels show Scotland from its geological beginnings to the present day. And there is a panel on crofting featuring the Battle of the Braes and the Glendale crofters – a significant moment in Scottish history and a tradition that is worth preserving.

Russell Smith is a crofter at Bonar Bridge and a director of the Scottish Crofting Federation.

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