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Johnstone's View 29th
February 2008
Growing up in a farming community in the
Mearns afforded me a whole range of experiences which have
shaped my ideas and ambitions. One of the most important of
these was the opportunity to become involved in the Young
Farmers movement.
The Young Farmers have their roots in the
need to train young people for life in an industry where
hard work and sound principles can pay good dividends but
the movement quickly became recognised as a ‘marriage
bureau’ and a social club. Less well known to those outside
the Young Farmers ‘bubble’ is the way in which the movement
successfully trains young people for a life outside their
own communities. One of the ways it achieves this is by
running an international exchange programme which allows
young men and women to visit other countries in Europe,
North America and the Antipodes.
As a working farmer with a young family I
was unable to travel abroad during my days in the Young
Farmers but I was able to act as a host to visitors on the
return exchanges. It was through a contact made in this way
that I was this week acting as host once again, this time to
the current class from the Indiana Agriculture Leadership
Institute. This group of farmers and associated professions
from one of the United States most heavily farmed regions
are visiting Scotland as part of a two year development
course and I was delighted to welcome them to the Scottish
Parliament as part of their two week visit.
After a tour of the parliament building and
an explanation of how devolved government works we found
ourselves round the table in one of the committee rooms
discussing the industry which is dear to their hearts and
mine. I often regret speaking publicly about the farming
industry because it only makes me more cynical but on this
occasion my spirits were lifted as I was reminded of a
conclusion I first came to twenty-five years ago. That is
that farming people really are the same the world over and
that I probably have more in common with most of them than I
do with many of the people I work with on a daily basis.
So what did we conclude from our
discussion? That in Indiana as in the Howe of the Mearns,
the weather and the currency exchange rates have more power
to make and break farming businesses than any government.
That regulation handed down from government however, is a
huge and growing burden which has driven the smallest
farming businesses to the very edge of existence. That the
necessary increase in average farm size is only being
achieved because the biggest get bigger as the smallest
disappear.
I firmly believe that the actions of
government, regardless of how good the intention may have
been, can only ever damage the farming industry and that the
future, by whatever criteria we choose to apply, depends on
one thing and one thing only – profitability.
On a different subject entirely, The
Boundary Commission published its proposals for new Scottish
Parliament constituencies last week. These boundaries are
quite arbitrary and their primary function is to ensure
equally balanced populations of about 54,000 electors in
each. Kincardine and the Mearns of course was historically
linked to Angus in its parliamentary representation – a link
which was only broken 25 years ago. Then in 1996 Kincardine
and Deeside was absorbed into the local government area of
Aberdeenshire after proposals to move southern parts of the
county into Angus had been rejected by those of us who
wanted to keep the old county together.
While some people believed that the
absorption of Kincardine and the Mearns into Aberdeenshire
was complete, the boundary commission has thrown up an
opportunity for us to assert our individuality once more by
accepting their proposed link with Angus but as ever, these
proposals are not entirely to my liking.
The idea that Portlethen should become part
of an enlarged Aberdeen South constituency will come as a
shock to many. As this once tiny Kincardineshire village
continues its transition into one of the counties major
towns, its population must consider whether this particular
shift is desirable.
The proposal to link Stonehaven with the
coastal strip of Angus may seem appropriate to some. Having
worked as a member of the Scottish Parliament, across these
boundaries for the past nine years I can see how it might
work. The logic of the geography however is that the Howe
of the Mearns links more naturally to the Vale of
Strathmore.
Where ever you are and what ever you think,
make sure the Boundary Commission hears your opinion as soon
as possible.
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