Rural and Environment

  • Weekly round-up: 23/11

    23rd November 2018 by

    Crown Estate Bill passed   Local authorities and communities will have a stronger voice in the management of the Crown Estate Scotland assets, as Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham confirms the passing of the Scottish Crown Estate Bill Read more Nuffield Farm Conference  In his welcome to the 2018 Nuffield Farming Conference, Rural Economy Secretary Fergus…

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  • Stability and Simplicity: Proposals for a rural funding transition period

    16th November 2018 by

    For the whole of the Scottish parliament’s lifetime, farm policy and support in Scotland has been determined by membership of the EU, and more specifically CAP. With the UK’s decision to leave the EU, there is no doubt that the year ahead will be difficult. That is why the Scottish Government has made it clear…

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  • Coverage on UK Agriculture Bill

    13th November 2018 by

    Today, various media outlets are running a piece calling on the Scottish and UK Government’s to break the “current political log-jam” on how to agree future policy, financial frameworks and repatriation of agriculture powers.

    The pieces call for “meaningful progress” to be made on the legal mechanisms required to make agricultural payments in the immediate aftermath of Brexit, and follows a letter published by NFUS Scotland president Andrew McCornick to Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing and DEFRA Secretary of State Michael Gove.

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  • Programme for Government 2018/19: Rural commitments

    15th October 2018 by

    We’ve recently seen the unveiling of this year’s Programme for Government, outlining our commitment to making this bolder, more ambitious vision of Scotland’s future a reality. Over the coming year, I’ll be focusing my attention on carrying out the following commitments to support the sectors which make up one of Scotland’s key priority areas –…

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  • Stability, certainty and simplicity in rural support

    22nd June 2018 by

    “No change is not an option.” However unpalatable that may be to some in rural Scotland, that was one of the conclusions of the Agriculture Champions and a premises echoed by the National Council of Rural Advisers (NCRA) recent report. Change is therefore inevitable and we must now decide how radical we wish to be, and importantly, how fast we wish to change.

    I believe our rural businesses and communities deserve a semblance of security and this consultation sets out options to try and achieve this.

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