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Farmers View 22nd April 2009

In the middle of last month, I was lucky enough to have a visit from James Paice MP, Shadow Minister for Agriculture. I have known Jim Paice since my days as the Scottish Conservative’s farming spokesman in the late 1990’s when he was my opposite number in London. A farmer himself, he has a real understanding of a range of rural business and countryside issues which places him in a strong position to represent his constituents in South East Cambridgeshire.

Jim has friends who farm in Aberdeenshire and he is a regular visitor to the North East, taking a keen interest in local farming. He is also a regular visitor to the Royal Highland Show and other specialist farming industry events. His two-day tour of farming constituencies took him from West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine through Angus then across to Fife before ending his progress in North Perthshire.

At a time of year when most farmers were still catching up with spring work, the traditional round of formal ‘farmers’ meetings was difficult to organise so the Shadow Minister found himself in a series of ‘one to one’ discussions in byres, tattie sheds and, on one occasion at least, standing on an end-rig. Of course, he was not out of place in this environment and his skill as a communicator was well used, along with his farming experience, as he studied the soil and the livestock he encountered along the way.

Although it was no surprise to me that Jim got on so well with the farmers he met, I was delighted with one particular aspect of the day’s encounters. Unlike the larger gatherings, which sometimes take place, these meetings provided the chance for farmers to share their difficulties, and sometimes their fears, privately, with the man who could be the Agriculture Minister in a little over a year’s time.

So why was this event so significant when we have our own Scottish Government and our own Scottish Agriculture Minister who deals with farming on a devolved basis? Well yes, farming and environment policy are devolved, but three quarters of all the legislation, which is administered and enforced through the Scottish Parliament, comes directly from Brussels. The representative of our interests in that forum is the Minister of the member state government. That is the Minister in London, not the one in Edinburgh.

Now some people might believe that this situation should be changed and that Scotland should have it’s own, independent government but I remain convinced that if this were ever to happen, our influence would be of no significance in the European order. As part of the United Kingdom, one of the largest EU member states, real influence is possible but simply has not been happening in recent years. The chance to have our position represented in EU negotiations by a man who has been a farmer himself, knows the farming industry in Scotland and understands it’s problems, could be a huge advantage to us, especially when comparing his experience with some of our more recent representatives.

And it was not only on the issue of Europe where the MP’s presence was relevant to the Scottish experience. Complaints about the abuse of power by the supermarkets were also raised and Mr Paice was left with a clear understanding that North East farmers believe that the voluntary supermarket code of conduct has failed and that the next step is overdue. Market regulation is another area of policy that remains un-devolved.

Another reserved matter that was on the mind of everyone we spoke to was the level of tax on fuel and what it does to production and haulage costs. The Shadow Minister was told that, with the cost of transport coming out of any return, farmers in the Northern half of Scotland were working under a huge handicap.

One more area of policy which is not devolved but which has a significant impact on some of our farmers is immigration. With our berry growers, among others, dependent on a supply of foreign labour, they were keen to make their point while they had the chance.

With control of our farming industry largely devolved and EU policy under the control of a Government with no interest in farming, we have been fighting a loosing battle for the last twelve years. Now with the prospect of a change of Government, we could be about to see some of these imbalances redressed. With an Agriculture Minister who knows what he’s talking about and cares about Scottish farmers into the bargain, our luck may just be about to turn.