Scotland set for a new First Minister

By farming correspondent Eddie Gillanders

The announcement by Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday that she was standing down as First Minister came as a surprise to most people, not least her closest political allies and the usually well-informed "political classes", including political journalists.

Perhaps it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise given recent events in the Scottish Parliament and her failure to deliver what has always has been her number one priority, Scottish independence, where recent opinion polls show support is falling.

Looking to the future, there are wider and more important issues to consider than farming and, whoever is elected to succeed Ms Sturgeon, we are unlikely to see any change in the Scottish Government’s decidedly lukewarm approach to what is one of Scotland’s biggest and most important industries.

Ms Sturgeon has paid scant heed of Scottish farming during her eight-year tenure as First Minister, apart from token visits to the Royal Highland Show (and indeed Turriff Show on one occasion), and her government is coming under intense pressure at the moment for the slow pace of coming forward with a new agricultural policy which is due to kick-in from 2025 onwards.

No doubt the selection of a new First Minister will mean a parliamentary reshuffle.

The big question for farmers may be whether Marie Gougeon will survive as rural affairs cabinet secretary, and will she be left to carry through the future policy she vaguely announced at NFU Scotland’s AGM in Glasgow last Friday.

Perhaps better the devil you know.

Her fast-paced speech at the AGM was long in terms of words but short in terms of new information although members of the committee advising the government on future policy, including the union’s president, Martin Kennedy, who is joint chair of the committee with Ms Gougeon, assure me it is a major step forward.

Some cynically suggested is was a ploy to take up as much of her allocated time as possible with her speech to minimise the time for questions.

Perish the thought.

On a positive note, however, Ms Gougeon did give a commitment, as she has done before, that food production would be at the heart of future agricultural policy and that the policies adopted would follow government’s Vision for Agriculture announced last year and the recommendations of the farmer-led advisory groups set up for each sector by her predecessor, Fergus Ewing.

"There is no contradiction between high quality food production and producing it in a way that works for climate and nature,” she said.

"This was clear in the reports of the farmer-led groups which are our blueprint for future policy.

"We are ambitious in what we want to achieve with farmers for the agricultural industry.

"We want to see our producers – and our nation – recognised as global leaders in sustainable and regenerative agriculture."

However, you won’t find the nitty-gritty of the actions farmers will be expected to achieve in the run-up to the new policy coming in to play.

For that, you need to read two documents extending to 35 pages, giving an agricultural reform route map with a timeline for change and a list of measures to be undertaken to achieve the reforms required.

The route map contains information on the future tiered model of base, enhanced, elective and complementary support.

It also outlines the phased implementation of the new framework from 2025 and demonstrates the transition from current to future schemes, the measures being considered for future support and the support available to help businesses prepare.

From 2025, support will be conditional on meeting essential standards to ensure appropriate activity, climate, biodiversity and business efficiency outcomes are achieved.

This will be as well as safeguarding animal health and welfare.

Ms Gougeon gave an assurance that there would be no "cliff edge".

"We are designing a transition that will support farmers through these changes and involve you in the development of the future support framework," she said.

The Guidance on the List of Measures contains information on the broad types of actions that the government will expect from farmers who wish to receive enhanced tier agricultural support payments in future.

The government plans to start testing these measures with a group of farmers this month to get a better understanding of how they might work in practice "from the people who will be asked to implement them".

Ms Gourgeon stressed this was not a final list of measures but were broad measures designed to be indicative and to help farmers plan for future changes.

"The government is fully committed to supporting farmers to produce food sustainably and help them make the transition to more sustainable farming," she said.

There’s a lot to take in but all farmers should take the time to study these documents.

The long and short of it is, if you don’t comply, there will be no support in the future.