Farming industry is a pawn in the Brexit game – and could be sacrificed

They are sometimes clinging on by their finger nails to incredibly remote bracken and tick-infested rocky outcrops, breeding sheep and cattle that are as hardy and resilient as the men and women who farm them.

It seems to me these are the very people who are going to be among the most badly affected by the games that are currently being played out in the dusty backrooms of Westminster and the soulless corridors of Brussels.

Our Scottish Government may be valiantly shouting the corner for us but the reality is our industry is nothing more than a pawn in the game, and I fear we could be sacrificed.

Last week’s introduction of the new Agricultural Bill to Westminster is the first salvo in the battle of what is to become our new reality, and it’s a reality that looks increasingly desperate.

The Bill will largely focus on England’s wants and needs because, currently, agriculture is devolved to the Scottish Parliament, but there are very important elements within it that will be hugely significant to Scotland. And without knowing the detail, we simply can’t say how much of the Bill may land up as our Brexit inheritance imposed upon us by Westminster.

Michael Gove has said in the past that food production is not a public good, and his Bill focuses on what he perceives to be rewarding of public goods.

In fact, there has been absolutely no mention in the Bill about food production. Gove’s vision is for a greener, more accessible countryside.

When he talks about increased efficiency and better animal welfare he implies that these are not already happening.

We already adhere to some of the strictest animal welfare and environmental protections in the world. We have the right of responsible access in Scotland. And we do all that while producing the world’s finest beef and lamb, especially from the hills which is the most vulnerable sector of our industry. The Scottish Government have issued their “Stability and Simplicity” consultation document to ask the farming industry what we need to provide a sustainable future.

In contrast to the UK Government’s position, quality food production is at the heart of what any outcomes of the consultation will be. As ever though, funding will be the biggest issue.

Michael Gove has just announced the review into convergence payments chaired by Lord Bew of Donegore. The Tories initially gave the credit for this review to Stephen Kerr, Tory MP for Stirling, while in reality it was initially Richard Lochhead MSP, and in Westminster Calum Kerr MP, who pursued the issue almost weekly. When Fergus Ewing became cabinet secretary for agriculture, he consistently pursued the issue and worked with NFUS to ensure that it wasn’t kicked into the long grass.

So what will this review do for Scotland’s farmers? The remit will be to review fair funding for all farmers in all parts of the UK. It will base findings on previous allocations but will not revisit any previous allocations already committed. That means that the money owed to Scotlands hill farmers will not be forthcoming.

Another consideration for Scotland’s farmers is that the funding allocation will not be Barnettised, which is something we have been warning against since this review was announced.

But there is another warning here. Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell made a point of mentioning that Scotland receives double what any Barnett formula would normally allocate to Scotland, but goes on to say that the fact that it won’t be “fully” Barnettised should be welcomed.

That statement gives them room to cut our allocation “in the interests of fairness”.

If ever an industry was going to become a football, it’s our's.

Exit the EU, strip powers from Holyrood, cut funding, produce a Bill with no mention of food production, then blame it on the SNP.

Those of us in Farming For Yes have warned about this happening since 2013, and our warnings are now becoming realities.