Blog For our members, 2016 has been a torrid time writes NFU Scotland’s Chief Executive Scott Walker in his New Year Message.
30/12/2016
Blog The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has today (20 December) set out her proposals for Scotland's future relations with Europe after Brexit writes NFU Scotland’s Chief Executive Scott Walker.The document lays out the case for the UK, as a whole, to remain within the European Single Market and within the EU Customs Union.
20/12/2016
Blog One of the opportunities afforded to NFU Scotland members each year the chance to participate in a Brussels study trip that gives you a fantastic insight into the workings of the European machine writes Peter Douglas, Ruletownhead Farm, near Jedburgh.With the historic Brexit vote in June, article 50 set to be triggered in March and the potential for many years of negotiations, Brussels will remain a very important institution for Scotland, making this year’s trip one not to miss – which is what we nearly did!
20/12/2016
Blog This Christmas – as with just about every Christmas before - farmers, crofters and growers are likely to be at home and still be hard at work writes NFU Scotland’s Food Chains Policy Manager John Armour Even I will be milking cows and feeding calves at my parents farm on Christmas day. While we have the tradition of harvest thanksgiving in our rural communities in Scotland, it doesn’t cut through society in the same way that Thanksgiving does in the United States of America (USA).
07/12/2016
Blog Tonight (Thursday 10 November) will see the first screening of a new film ‘Grazing on the Edge’ at the Aros Centre, Portree on the Isle of Skye writes NFU Scotland's Crofting Policy Manager Lucy Sumsion.
10/11/2016
Blog Following a summer that was punctuated with the seismic EU referendum result, the quieter start to the autumn was welcome, with the ‘ground-shifting’ stuff being left to farmers and growers who have now finished off a successful harvest for another year. This period of ‘business as usual’ has been short-lived, as we look ahead to the start of the UK’s exit from the European Union from April 2017 onwards.
03/11/2016
Blog Unilever and Tesco have been embroiled in a very public dispute over the prices of some well-known household brands.
While for most people this appears to be a negotiation between two massive, faceless, corporate giants, to us farmers there is another dimension – the impact of supermarket food deflation.
Unilever appear to be taking the stance, from an outsider’s perspective, that in a volatile global market, compounded by the currency impact of ‘Brexit’, price cannot constantly go one way – down.
14/10/2016
Blog The start of October sees farmers in East Lothian frantically trying to get all the autumn sowing completed, tatties being lifted and the very last of harvest 2106 being gathered in, with beans being the only crop still standing awaiting the combine knife.With this being an Olympic year, this year’s harvest would get a bronze medal on the podium compared to the previous two years.And the first harvest estimates from across the whole of Scotland back that up.
11/10/2016
Blog Scottish Government’s decision to no longer allow Scottish farmers and crofters to link the holdings on which they will keep cattle, for the purposes of recording movements, is a cause for concern that could lead to problems for many cattle keepers.Indeed, in the North East, producers have already taken their worries about the changes direct to their MSP.
29/09/2016
Blog As thinking on the future design of agricultural policy in the UK and Scotland begins to emerge, a fundamental policy choice has resurfaced in the wake of the EU referendum.Should we go back to the future – decoupled or coupled support?First and foremost, the UK will REMAIN a Member State of the European Union until it is not! Until such times as Brexit is complete, farm support will still be governed by the current Common Agricultural Policy, and all that goes with it by way of budgets, compliance, inspections and all.
19/09/2016