The Royal Highland Show is the pinnacle of the farming calendar for many reasons, none more so than it being a hugely social event to catch up with friends old and new writes Political Affairs Manager Clare Slipper.

NFU Scotland spends many hours, days and weeks within the corridors of Holyrood and Westminster, meeting politicians and officials on the vast range of issues that impact our members.

What the Show provides us with is the perfect setting to invite key decision-makers onto our turf, in a much more informal setting, to see, hear and experience what our sector is all about.

This is a format which has always worked extremely well. Over a number of years NFU Scotland has enjoyed a huge amount of political engagement at the Royal Highland Show, with First Ministers, Cabinet Secretaries, Ministers, Secretaries of State, European Commissioners, MPs, MSPs and party leaders coming on to the stand to meet with NFU Scotland and our members, and hear about the issues of the day.

(We’ve even picked up some politicians – who shall remain nameless – long after the doors to the NFU Scotland stand have been shut for the evening who are on the hunt for a tipple and a chat – a rather novel way to exchange views on issues!)

Whilst we will greatly miss the opportunity to meet and engage with our friends and representatives from our parliaments at the Show this year, what is clear is that its absence has not hindered NFU Scotland’s ability to get in front of our key decision-makers. To date NFU Scotland has met with over 70 parliamentarians from Holyrood and Westminster through our series of virtual regional roundtable meetings – a hugely valuable exercise for our members and their political representatives which we will be sure to repeat.

In addition, technology has allowed us to also meet virtually with a number of ministers from both the UK and Scottish government to express to them the pressing issues facing our sector: Covid-19; the Brexit negotiations; future trade; immigration; and agricultural policy, to name just some.

Video conferencing may be lacking in providing the sociable setting in which to have these discussions, but it is certainly proving effective in terms of getting our message across.

I’m sure we all look forward to a time when we can meet in person again (maybe even with a tipple in hand at the Show – who knows?) but until that point, NFU Scotland will use all tools available to keep our members priorities at the forefront.