A packed audience gathered in the Lowland Hall at the Royal Highland Showground on Friday 20th June for the annual rural business breakfast briefing hosted by Shepherd and Wedderburn and Bidwells.
RHASS president George Lyon opened the event with a call to arms - challenging the rural sector to look forwards and show strong leadership that will deliver positive change.
"Consumers are rightly concerned about climate change, and the agricultural sector's role in it. Many politicians think the simple answer is to get rid of livestock and lower their numbers for a quick win with regard to emissions targets.
"As an industry we are faced with a simple choice: either push ahead and cut emissions using the latest science and technology available to us or have change forced on us in ways we know will be counterproductive for everyone in society.
"To those who say we can't meet the net zero targets being imposed over the next 25 years I say look at how far we have come in the last 25.
"Farms are far more efficient and productive than ever before due to new innovations, and I believe that by embracing the challenge and taking advantage of new farming methods and technological advances we can show that farms are willing to lead the change and deliver sustainability on our own terms."
In keeping with this year's RHASS Presidential Initiative focusing on Net Zero solutions in Scottish agriculture, a panel of industry experts then shared their views on overcoming challenges to sustainable land management.
The event was chaired by Stuart Greenwood, accredited Specialist in Agricultural Law and Partner at Shepherd and Wedderburn.
He put the questions to the high-profile guests including: Katharine Hay – Rural Affairs correspondent at The Scotsman; Rob Wainwright – RHASS Vice President and farmer at Cliad on the Isle of Coll; Tim Barratt – Head of Forestry at Bidwells; and Finlay Carson – MSP, Convenor of the Scottish Parliament's Rural Affairs and Islands Committee.
A wide-ranging debate covered issues as diverse as subsidies and funding for net zero, the lack of clear policy goals, the tension between agriculture and renewables, and the exciting new technologies emerging within the rural sector.
Rob Wainwright commented: "Legislating for agriculture must be a thankless task for politicians because you'll never please everyone.
"However, there are simply too many examples of schemes that are supposedly aimed at supporting farmers that totally miss the mark and as a result make little or no impact. They are often too complex to actually apply for, the criteria are too restrictive and they tend not to be in place long enough.
"That needs to change if we want to see tangible industry wide progress on sustainability issues. We need support that is easy to access and provides certainty for farmers so they can invest in producing long-term benefits.
"I'd really like to see more focus and discussion within the rural sector on solutions.
"Too often we get hung up on the problems, but I'm an optimist and I think when we put our minds to it we can come up with the right answers ourselves from within agriculture for many of the issues related to net zero and that will provide a net benefit to our businesses but also the local and national environment."
Finlay Carson MSP explained: "Unfortunately when it comes to sustainability and net zero there is still a real lack of clarity on what regulators and government policy wants from farmers.
"It's 10 years since we left the EU and the reality is that we still have no agricultural policy specific to Scotland that can give farm businesses the certainty they need to make long term plans as Rob has highlighted.
"We are also at risk of policy decisions in other sectors dictating what happens in agriculture without thought to the wider consequences, when in reality if there was a comprehensive and linked policy framework farming could be playing a much more active role in helping the drive towards the country's net zero targets.
"There is no doubt the funding mechanisms in agriculture need reformed to allow farmers the opportunity to invest in a way that can deliver net zero benefits in a profitable way, after all farmers cannot be green if they are in the red."
The Scotsman's rural correspondent Katharine Hay added: "Forestry is definitely one of the issues causing controversy in many of Scotland's rural communities. What I hear speaking to people on the ground is that there is a big disconnect between local communities and some of the changes that are happening in their area due to net zero policies.
"Some farmers say they actively support renewables projects and value the new investment and funding they can bring to areas which perhaps don't have many other options in terms of developing new industries and income streams.
"But others don't feel those benefits, don't feel their voice is heard and frankly don't appreciate some projects being imposed on areas that don't want them, so there is a real tension out there.
"There are some great examples of farms around the country taking very different approaches to solving problems like soil health and other regenerative practices with real success.
"I've also seen first-hand good relationships between nearby farms and estates who are working together to tackle local issues and projects, which I think is partly down to a new younger generation coming through that are willing to look at new methods of working and that is heartening to see."
Tim Barratt from Bidwells highlighted the rapid change within the sector: "I grew up in a very rural area in England working on a farm and my in-laws are a farming family. And I find it remarkable how much the industry has changed over the past few decades.
"And the fact is that due to climate change more significant evolution is on the way, and we have to work on the basis that it's not all bad, it's about balance and how we bring people along on that journey in a positive way - not force farms down a particular route.
"Can we find new ways to support farms so they can be more sustainable and more profitable, for example co-investment partnerships with private sector corporates that work alongside farmers rather than buy them out?
"We believe there is lots of scope for innovation in terms of new ways of working to help overcome the challenges on the horizon."
To close the debate each panellist was asked the same final question - if you could propose one legal or policy reform that would meaningfully advance sustainable land management in the next 10 years, what would it be?
"Introduce something that gives local communities more of a stake in the delivery of new net zero developments including shared ownership schemes," said Katharine Hay.
"Clearly understood policy targets and increased funding to support farmers in meeting them so we can ensure a Just Transition for the agricultural sector," replied Finlay Carson.
"If we are in a climate emergency then we need to get serious and governments have got to put their money where their mouth is and give rural communities long term funding at an appropriate level," suggested Tim Barratt.
"It's crazy that we have some farming subsidy schemes based on land values from 1974, we need a radical overhaul of the way we incentivise farmers to invest so they can develop genuinely innovative new solutions that will help contribute to sustainability goals," added Rob Wainwright.
Thank you to all our valued clients and contacts who attended, and special thanks to our panel for their excellent contributions to the debate.
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