NFU Scotland went on the attack yesterday on behalf of hill livestock farmers who have been disappearing off the remote hills and islands following years of financial losses.
Speaking on an 8,000 acre hill farm at Laggan, the NFUS president, Jim McLaren, said there was a queue of farmers waiting to sell off their breeding stock as banks became more inflexible in their borrowing arrangements and losses continued to accumul
ate.
Even before the teeth marks of this current credit crunch started to show, sheep and cattle were moving rapidly off the hills. The NFUS reckoned that some areas in the North and West of the country have seen a reduction in sheep numbers of between one and two thirds in the past decade.
Even the fabled Scottish beef herd, with its reputation for quality, has dropped 11 per cent in the past ten years in response to poor market returns and there are now less than half a million breeding cows in Scotland.
McLaren feared that any further reduction in livestock numbers in the heartland of the industry could punch a hole in any Scottish food policy currently being worked on by the Scottish Government.
Host farmer, Archie Slimon said that on his 8,000 acre hill unit, his losses equalled £13 per ewe and £110 per cow. These figures were before any subsidies were received but even when this financial support was factored in, the plus side showed only around £20,000 reward for his, his wife and his father's work throughout the year. Slimon supported the three strands of the NFUS appeal. These were the continuation of the Beef Calf Scheme, which annually pumps some £21 million into producers of suckled calves; a remodelled Less Favoured Area support scheme with the cash being restricted to those in active production; and a revitalised list of Land Managers' Options to include several regular and beneficial practices already being carried out by farmers.
Mr McLaren said that while the calf scheme had not seen any increase in production from the Scottish suckled cow herd, it should be continued. "At the very least it is slowing down the decline in production."
He then attacked the LFA policy that allowed non active farmers to receive public cash without producing anything for the public good. This leakage of money, with no regard to production, had to stop, he stated.
The union did not put a figure on the money going to these farmers, labelled by some as the "slippered brigade" as they have retired from farming but still receive the subsidy cheques. But he did think it was neither sensible or justifiable to let it continue.
McLaren then added his voice to a growing clamour for LFA payments to the 12,000 hill farmers covering more than 80 per cent of the Scottish land mass to be linked in some way to the numbers of livestock being kept. The sheep and cattle numbers could be varied according to the location, he suggested, with more fragile and remote regions having lower stocking densities. than upland areas.
The union, which throughout the press conference claimed it was not asking for additional cash, merely a redirection and refinement of current money, then asked for a widening of the doors in the Land Managers' Options so that they could include such basic practices as controlling bracken or gathering sheep.
The Scottish Government has seen the union proposals but has, so far, made no comment.
