Blog These are exceptional times for NFU Scotland and Scottish agriculture and let’s hope 2016 brings some genuine cheer.The pressure that has built around all businesses in 2015, regardless of sector, was unprecedented.The root of our problems remain creeping costs, volatile and depressed markets, and damaging uncertainty over the timing and value of new CAP support payments.
28/12/2015
Blog Last week saw me battling for Scottish cattle farmers at the COPA and Commission meetings on beef writes NFU Scotland Livestock Committee Chairman Charlie Adam.
At these meetings, attended by representatives from all over Europe, I went with the aim of pressing our case on three fronts:
27/11/2015
Blog As the objectives are being set for the coming months for NFU Scotland’s Farming With Dyslexia campaign, Clare Slipper draws all of the strands together of what the Union has learned and tackled so far and what it will focus on next.Dyslexia is a hidden, but very real, issue within the farming community.
17/11/2015
Blog While the agricultural and animal health sectors in the UK focus on the scale and impact of budget cuts on Defra, of greater importance to Scotland may be the level of reduction in our total share of UK funding.From discussions with Scottish Government, there seems little doubt that the UK cuts will have a significant impact on Scotland’s pot.Given the Scottish Government’s stated commitments to priorities like health and education, savings will have to be found across a range of other policy areas.
10/11/2015
Blog A referendum on EU membership before the end of 2017 will be the fifth time in as many years that Scottish voters have gone to the ballot box.
26/10/2015
Blog This is a challenging period for us all, with most of Scotland’s dairy farmers receiving a price lower than their cost of production writes Graeme Kilpatrick, Chair of NFU Scotland's Milk Committee.
02/10/2015
Blog Dear Mr Tesco.....
We are currently in what can only be described as a challenging period for farmers across many sectors. Despite the testing market conditions being faced, farmers across Scotland continue to work hard seven days a week, 365 days a year, to produce quality food and drink.
15/09/2015
Blog Clare Slipper, NFU Scotland’s Parliamentary Officer reflects on the Union’s visit to Westminster on Monday 7 September with eight members of the Board of Directors.
14/09/2015
Blog Farmers in Scotland are under immense pressure at this time. Low prices paired with adverse weather and declining direct support payments means that income in all farm businesses is dropping. That means the Union is active on a great many fronts yet still focused on what needs to be done to secure a future for Scottish farmers. Our strategy is simple.
10/09/2015
Blog What is my Union doing for me? It is a question that we are frequently challenged with - and in the midst of the current crisis affecting almost every farm sector in Scotland - it is one that we need to have answers ready for. The recent farm visit by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to the Dykes family's beef and sheep unit at West Linton is recognition of the seriousness of the situation - and round the table with the First Minister were men and women who see their future in producing beef, sheep, milk, cereals and more.
26/08/2015