Blog Today you might have been one of the many who had a near miss while working on your farm or croft. Most farmers and crofters if being honest will be able to recall an incident that so nearly resulted in them having a serious accident. But for 80 men, women and children they weren’t as fortunate as it wasn’t a near miss they had. In the last 10 years, 80 people have lost their lives on Scottish farms. Everyone wants to return home to their family at the end of a hard working day. No-one sets out with the intention of having an accident but it can hap
30/06/2016
Blog After a night of twists and turns, the result is final. The UK has voted to leave the European Union, by a slim majority of 52% to 48%. Turnout was 72%. Of course, this doesn't mean we have awoken today as an independent UK. Rather, the result now symbolises a mandate given to the Prime Minister to trigger Article 50 of the European Union, where a Member State will negotiate the terms of its exit.
24/06/2016
Blog Last Monday I was watching the One Show on BBC One when presenter Matt Baker made a passionate plea that we, as a nation, should value milk more than we do. He stated that milk should not be cheaper than water.Of course Matt Baker is from a farming family, and as a past chairman of the English & Welsh Young Farmers, he knows the impact that the downturn in commodity markets is having on many hard working farming families across the UK.
14/06/2016
Blog Scotland’s Beef Efficiency Scheme (BES) has been launched into a difficult farming environment where most businesses have been drained by the combined weight of weather, failing markets and the uncertainties of a new CAP support framework.With applications to the scheme closing on 15 June, that overload of economic and bureaucratic pressure is not a good seed bed for new initiatives or schemes!
08/06/2016