The Scottish Government

Agriculture Strategy Seminar - 22 January 2007

A seminar to promote A Forward Strategy for Scottish Agriculture: Next Steps was held at the Airth Castle Hotel on 22 January 2007. A summary of the main outcomes of the seminar is given below.

SCOTTISH AGRICULTURE: THE NEXT STEPS SEMINAR
AIRTH CASTLE HOTEL, 22 JANUARY 2007

REPORT OF SEMINAR

Introduction

The programme for this seminar, attended by around 200 people, was as follows:

Debate - "Scottish farming is delivering for Scotland"

Case studies - Chaired by Ross Finnie

Food supply chain - succeeding at the international/national level: Ronnie Bartlett

Food supply chain - developing local opportunities: Jim Fairlie

Case studies - Chaired by Sarah Boyack MSP, Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development

Diversification - challenge or opportunity?: Mark French

Environment - landscape scale development: Alastair MacLennan

Scottish produce - second to none?: Wendy Barrie

Syndicate session - What can we do to help deliver the Next Steps strategy?

Summaries of the collated feedback from the discussion during the debate and the seminar syndicate sessions are attached as Annexes 1 and 2 to this paper.

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ANNEX 1

SCOTTISH AGRICULTURE: THE NEXT STEPS SEMINAR - 22 JANUARY 2007

"SCOTTISH AGRICULTURE IS DELIVERING FOR SCOTLAND"

Feedback from debate discussion

• Need to avoid complacency; retain sense of ambition; concern about "best versus the rest" - need to raise standards across industry.
• Need for better and more up to date industry information.
• Need to face up to international competition.
• Concern about food security.
• Contribution of local food in reducing food miles.
• Opportunities to exploit energy markets; link with climate change challenge.
• Need for better supply chain collaboration, delivering for markets, but discussion about difficulty of meeting changing specification (eg for lamb).
• Burden of regulation.
• Importance of public support (including SFP, LFASS, LMCs) and links with public benefits.
• Value of agricultural landscape for tourism.
• Need for more resources to meet biodiversity targets.
• Need for fresh blood, working closely with colleges and removing barriers.
• Need to invest in management and leadership skills.
• Importance of innovation and research.

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ANNEX 2

SCOTTISH AGRICULTURE: THE NEXT STEPS SEMINAR - 22 JANUARY 2007

WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP DELIVER THE NEXT STEPS STRATEGY?

Feedback from Syndicate Groups

Topic 1: How can we do more to improve market focus and deliver for consumers?

• Commission review of current sources and quality of market information available and develop proposals for a system to provide key current market data in a meaningful format and which takes account of current consumer attitudes.
• Advice to enable producers to identify available markets (and market gaps) and how to play them. Changes in consumer attitudes are recognised as a key factor in this.
• Improve the transfer of information along the producer/consumer chain - both upstream and downstream. Fundamental that producers and processors get closer.
• A successful and sustainable food chain requires collaboration and efficiency at each link, with appropriate payment for the product which allows for reinvestment. Needs better market information - consumer demands, price indicators, sales information, production levels/capacity etc across the chain. Education throughout the chain is also key - by elevating knowledge of the product, the product itself will be elevated.
• Improve the level of qualified people throughout the industry - eg qualified butchers in supermarkets as well as in independent retailers. Improved/increased higher education opportunities will help achieve a qualified people resource for the industry.
• Publicise the benefits of involvement in collaborative chains as a driver to culture change. Good examples in the soft fruit sector; poor examples in the milk sector - industry can learn from both.
• Need to ensure that food chain messages in the farming sector are consistent with those in the retail sector, ensuring a cohesive approach across the spectrum.
• Need for a co-ordinated approach in dealing with the retailers with one body/organisation designated to interface with them, ensuring consistency in the messages delivered to the retailers on issues like production costs.
• Incentivise small businesses and encourage co-operation through regulatory change and fiscal structures.
• Develop a single Scottish quality food mark.
• Clear labelling needed to promote/market geographical origin of products in retail, restaurant and tourism etc sectors. Possible model is the way wine is promoted by geographical location of origin.
• Promote the benefits of buying Scottish produce to both domestic and export markets.
  Target public procurement to focus on provenance and origin of product.
• Interpret and implement EU Directives in ways which encourage industry rather than penalise it (ie better regulation/less regulation).
• Consistent quality is key - brand, taste and flavour need to be consistent to gain and maintain market.

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• Agriculture in isolation cannot do it. Need to harness all agencies locally, public and private - a Community Planning Partnership (CPP) approach.
• Adding value locally - but that depends on developing the necessary infrastructures (abattoirs, broadband, roads, post offices etc).
• Tackle red tape, particularly that associated with planning. Free up the planning system to make it less anti-development (diversification is currently not allowed for in local plans). Small scale developments in harmony with the area bring indirect benefits - eg, farm cottages/holiday lets can mean business for local restaurants etc.
• Encourage young people into rural (farming and ancillary) businesses. Not necessarily tenancies; other kinds of relationships with landowners too. For ancillary businesses, provide grant support conditional on the use of local products.
• Think big (bigger than farmers' markets and cottage industries). Put energies into scale and standardisation. Co-operate with one another (vertically and horizontally) /brigade resources to achieve that. Encourage a change of approach - think as land managers, not farmers; develop assets rather than chase subsidies. Stop supporting the hopelessly poor performers.
• Ensure that Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) payments continue to be paid to "active" farmers/crofters thus helping retain/generate more jobs in rural areas.
• Support payments under some of the future rural development schemes should be based on the labour requirements of the business, thus ensuring a range of rural jobs.
• The removal of age-related statutory minimum wage rates for agricultural workers is likely to discourage the employment of young people in the industry. The decision should be revisited.
• Encourage more rural businesses to undertake a whole business review to establish the best way forward.
• Encourage biomass and bioenergy production - big jobs potential plus benefits in terms of on-farm energy consumption.
• Need to look at a more joined up approach to biofuel/biomass production at a national level, and to provide training to encourage new entrants to the industry.
• Explore the potential for utilising disused distilleries for bio-ethanol production.

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• Action to reconnect farming with population as a whole, particularly work in schools, to help ensure a supply of new entrants in future (including farm workers).
• Introduce a young entrant scheme offering ready access to subsidised credit/low interest loans; provision of appropriate education/training; incentives through SRDP funding (with a requirement for robust business plans as a basic qualification).
• Encourage succession/retirement planning through educational efforts which raise awareness of the issues and highlight possible action eg, develop information literature in conjunction with the key bodies - Institute of Chartered Accountants, SEERAD, Law Society, banks etc. Introduce retirement scheme with financial incentives as encouragement.
• Need for better data on age structure of farmers.
• Encourage share farming/contract farming arrangements to make better use of flexibility offered by the Single Farm Payment (SFP).
• Need a commitment on land security. Steps to encourage private tenancies in the housing market have been successful. Something similar would reassure prospective landlords that a pre-emptive right to buy won't develop into an absolute right.
• Education in schools to encourage children to want to work in the industry.
• Agriculture Holdings legislation impedes new entrants - SLDT of up to 5 years regarded as too short; LDT with minimum of 15 years, too long. Also, sitting tenants can't afford to move out due to lack of available capital.
• SFP regime does not support/encourage new entrants as it allows people no longer farming to claim SFP while new entrants are forced to secure subsidy rights through purchase on the open market where they require to pay up to 2.5 times the value of each entitlement. Suggest SEERAD produces a "model agreement" that would allow farmers holding SFP entitlements to retire/semi-retire by renting land at zero or minimal rent to new entrants. The latter would meet cross compliance requirements on behalf of owner; the owner would continue to claim SFP.

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• Develop a central register of training currently available to identify any gaps both in specialist subjects (eg diversification) and general topics (eg IT skills). Better marketing of training opportunities needed to help motivate people to seek these out.
• Need to overcome barriers to participation in training - eg time constraints on farmers; negative perceptions about "up-skilling" amongst farmers. Consider issues like alternative delivery methods and forums for delivery.
• Training needs to be better targeted - eg target producer groups/supply groups, but recognise that some individuals respond better to personal invitations; use Tier 3 as a means of improving awareness of schemes available, how these can be accessed etc.
• Develop more training opportunities of the "results-based" variety, eg learning by example (Planning to Succeed and Monitor Farm are models); case study events (learning from the experiences of others).
• Consider a requirement for continuing professional development. Could be linked to licensing or participation in a QA scheme.
• Develop measures to assess the effectiveness of training.
• A need for a more cohesive policy approach across the Executive. For example, concern that SEERAD support for a higher skilled workforce is impeded by the Funding Council's restrictions on student numbers in Agricultural Colleges. Should SEERAD provide more direct funding for rural education to supplement that from the Funding Council?
• A need for more broadly based training and education for farmers and other land managers, ensuring a strong business skills element.
• A need to develop further the Monitor Farm concept, Planning to Succeed and other similar initiatives, ensuring wide accessibility and the inclusion of business issues as well as technical farming elements.
• Need to target LMC Tier 3 support towards farmers with the most appetite and potential for developing successful business. Access to Tier 3 funding should be conditional on undertaking additional training/education (especially in business-related skills), and the budget for skills development measures should be increased.
• Need to ensure that Enterprise Networks provide effective support to farm businesses. A ring-fenced budget for business training and support for small rural businesses might help to achieve that.
• Need an effective Single Information Portal with clear links to sites offering relevant training and advisory support, a training needs analysis tool and case study information.

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Topic 5: How can we do more to protect and enhance the environment?

• Next Steps strategy needs clear targets and milestones on agriculture and the environment - eg a project plan with deliverables that add up to the desired outcomes.
• Better information exchange needed between farmers and the environmental agencies, eg on better regulation; the agricultural sector and the tourism sector re Green Tourism opportunities; farmers and the research/science communities; and farmers and the consumers on what is needed/wanted re environmentally friendly food. Regional forums suggested as a possible mechanism.
• Better knowledge transfer on environmental issues is needed amongst farmers/land managers, including information on win-win options not dependent on public support; and on the economic benefits of adopting best environmental practices (environmental assets that can be marketed). One possible mechanism is the Monitor Farm initiative.
• Create a demand for a better environment, eg in the same way as the initiatives to create a demand for better food and nutrition. This would also ensure that what we require of the environment would be informed by better knowledge which, in turn, should improve the motivation of the farmer, eg in the case of NVZ action plans.
• Integrate environmental policies and farmers (as distinct from their representative organisations) with the policy making process, eg ensure practising farmers have a voice in River Basin Management Planning under the Water Framework Directive
• More information is needed to encourage understanding and the alleviation of climate change, eg energy or carbon audits as part of the whole farm review; demonstrating to farmers how shipping biofuel crops from Brazil may be better for climate than growing them here.
• Essential that the agriculture sector helps frame the climate change debate rather than being steamrollered by it, eg by the supermarkets' agendas. Should seek to deliver on a wide range of benefits (environmental protection, biodiversity, landscape and access) to benefit and underpin the wider rural economy.
• Need for greater collaboration in terms of farms working collectively at an "environmentally suitable scale" eg river catchment area; and on monitoring of data and showcasing best practice (suggestion that all Monitor Farms should have an environmental issues agenda).
• Need for better measurement of environmental aspects to establish baseline information against which farmers/land managers can judge outcomes, eg baseline information on species on a farm; an overall "Health of the Farm" ecosystem-based index as developed in Australia (suggested by Scottish Wildlife Trust).
• Need public funding for delivery of broad and shallow environmental benefits as well as more targeted incentive schemes which have a substantial reward for collaboration. Would maximise environmental gain through complimentary applications and action.
• Priorities for the rural environment should be set in the broader context of Executive policies (environmental, sustainability, health) but funding of environmental measures should be carefully thought through and prioritised with no assumption that support for environmental goods can be achieved simply by using the proceeds of modulation. Prioritisation should be sufficiently flexible to take account of local needs.
• As well as carrots, some sticks are also needed to encourage care of the environment - eg penalties for non co-operation.

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• Better joined up communication between Scottish Executive Departments is needed, eg between SEERAD and the Health Department on healthy food.
• Communication needs to target the middle 50% of farmers, ie ignoring the top and bottom quartiles.
• A communication focus on encouraging co-operative working would be useful to try to change the culture to more of a networking business model.
• Public information should focus on reconnecting farming and the public. There are many organisations doing this, but perhaps SAOS should take the lead. It would not be right for Government to lead on this.
• On the Single Information Portal, farmers might find it useful to have SEERAD figures on the state of the industry and useful financial information on the front page.
• There needs to be more attention given to how to get messages across to people on a low income.
• The industry needs to bring together individuals to share knowledge, experience and best practice as per the Monitor Farm initiative.
• Need to develop/support initiatives which help promote and clarify market signals.
• Better promotion of Scottish Food is needed. A complex issue relating not only to agriculture but also involving health and education. A common understanding across the various Government Departments/Agencies involved is essential.
• Knowledge transfer is important but mechanisms for transferring research data into practical applications could be more robust. Suggest that "Farmers' Champions" could be recruited from the existing pool of skilled practitioners in Scottish agriculture to deliver information to other producers on a face to face basis.
• There are a range of websites involving Scottish Agriculture. Fewer but more targeted websites would help information flow. Better use could be made of portals, linking and cross referencing sites. The Scottish Executive website, while comprehensive, is not always user friendly.
• Scottish agriculture has strong green credentials and better information about the real facts behind output would help the industry. Producers need to play up their contribution to the environment as a valuable part of their land use. To that end, more research and information is needed on the concepts of food miles and carbon footprints; and more work is needed on geographical status indicators, provenance and the labelling of local produce.
• The Scottish Executive is seen as sending out mixed messages - regulator on the one hand, while promoting the Agriculture Strategy on the other - leading to a lack of credibility. Bureaucracy should be enabling rather than disabling; proactive rather than reactive.
• Collaborative supply chains need to be developed. To achieve that, there should be:
• dedicated sector-specific groups;
• greater emphasis on provenance;
• clear food labelling;
• better co-ordinated business advice;
• better communication with consumers and an understanding of what they want/need;
  more Scotland-specific market information; and
• a better integrated agriculture policy within the Scottish Executive which cuts across ERAD and the Health Department.

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