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Tag Archives: crofting
Final version of Crofting Bill unveiled
There’s been much tooing and froing on this one – Continue reading
100 year-old bull hire scheme review completed
The Bull Hire Review Group, led by Sarah Allen, was established Continue reading
Cunningham blinks first – no occupancy requirement for Crofting Bill
Maybe this is the real politique of a minority administration. Continue reading
Alyn Smith MEP gets £135 million EID Relief Fund through Brussels committee
Alyn Smith, one of Scotland’s 6 MEPs , has won a breakthrough crucial to farmers. Continue reading
Review Group to be set up to examine future of crofters’ bull hire scheme
The Scottish Government this afternoon announced the setting up of a Review Group to examine the specific future of the Bull Hire scheme. In the meantime the current scheme is to be extended for a year, giving the Review Group time to come to conclusions without prejudice to the health and development of crofters’ livestock.
Thanking Environment Minister, Michael Russell, for listening to the views of a wide range of MSPs on the matter, Highlands and Islands MSP, Jamie McGrigor, who led a Member’s Debate in the Parliament last month on the subject and last week held cross-party talks with Minister, said: ‘I am grateful to the Minister for listening to myself and other MSPs at our meeting last Thursday. While I am appreciative that he understands the importance of a bull hire scheme in terms of cattle health and quality, I am personally yet to be convinced that any of the successor options that have been suggested will be as good as the very valuable scheme we currently have.
‘Sadly, we lost the ram hire scheme a few years back and my concern is to prevent the loss of any scheme that maintains the quality of stock in my region of the Highlands & Islands.
‘While the option of purchase of a bull might seem attractive to some crofters on face value it provides no long term solution in terms of how good quality bulls will be provided to future generations in the crofting sector.
‘I wish the review group every success in its deliberations and look forward to seeing the details of those who will be appointed to it. I hope they will be able to come up with some practical solutions and will be able to look into some of the genuine concerns that exist about the loss of the bull hire scheme. Many crofters remain unconvinced by claims about the level of investment that might be needed at the stud farms in Inverness if the current scheme was to continue and I hope this matter can be investigated by the review group’.
Also commenting on the development, Highlands and Islands MSP, Rhoda Grant, Labour’s Rural Affairs Spokesperson, urged Argyll and Bute crofters to use the scheme. She said: ‘The Scottish Government was able to use the declining use of the scheme over recent years as a reason for proposing its demise. It was mistaken to do that. Iit needs to market the scheme more vigorously and effectively and crofters need to use it if it is to remain into the long term.
‘The health benefits of the scheme cannot be overstated. Crofters can obtain better markets and prices for their cattle if they use the health guaranteed scheme. I hope crofters in Argyll and the islands will look to do so’.
Having urged crofters to stand shoulder to shoulder on the issue, she concluded by thanking them for backing the campaign to keep the scheme going. She said: ‘The strong demonstration of concern from the crofting community allowed us to mount the arguments with confidence and it allowed the government to see just what opposition they have managed to create. Crofters standing together are powerful and the other battles we need to have about the future of crofting will benefit from that continuing solidarity on the key issues’.
Highlands & Islands MSP, Dave Thompson asks for new version of bull hire scheme
Argyll man, Highlands MSP Jamie McGrigor has called for the retention of the Bill Hire scheme and, as For Argyll recently reported, secured a debate on the matter at Holyrood at which he spoke.
Now Dave Thompson, Highlands and Islands MSP, speaking in this debate, has urged Environment Minister Michael Russell, to bring forward a new version of the scheme to replace the one about to be closed.
433 crofters currently take advantage of the Government funded scheme which provides bull hire services throughout Scotland.
Mr Thompson says that the continuation of the current scheme, under state aide de minimus arrangements, would mean that the charge for a single bull would have to be raised by nearly 150 per cent, from £500 to £1,250.
Accepting that this makes the current scheme non-viable, Mr Thompson says: ‘There is no doubt that the bull hire scheme has had a positive effect on the maintenance of cattle quality and numbers, provided environmental and agricultural benefits and, over the past 100 years, encouraged local economic activity.
‘The fact is that the scheme now is neither economically viable nor allowable under state aid rules. The important point is to implement its replacement as soon as possible.
‘The same members who incorrectly claim that the Scottish Government has totally underestimated the importance of the current bull hire scheme are the same members who began the review of the scheme under the previous Administration, and oversaw its rundown while in power.
‘The Scottish Government is producing a viable alternative that will meet crofters’ needs while being economically justifiable.
‘It is with the 433 crofters who utilise the scheme in mind that I urge the Minister to ensure the replacement scheme has the same health and quality standards and accessibility as the old scheme and that, most important of all, it is operational by the time that the current scheme closes’.
At the end of last week, on 15th January, Environment Minister Michael Russell announced his proposed replacement arrangements. They are:
- Stud farm bulls will be offered to ex-hire groups at a set cost. That will allow appropriate groups the opportunity to adjust to the ending of the hire scheme and to set up their own hire operations, should they wish to do so.
- The crofting counties Agricultural Grant Scheme can provide assistance with building over-wintering facilities and for the transportation costs that are involved in over-wintering on the mainland.
- Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) money will be made available for alternatives, and there is the alternative of artificial insemination.
- Crofters will be provided with independent advice.
- Resources tied up in the current scheme will be liberated for the benefit of crofting. The sale of stud farms will be applied to crofting and no money will be taken out of the crofting allocations.
McGrigor in Holyrood debate on proposal to end crofters’ Bull Hire scheme
Highlands MSP, Jamie McGrigor, has from the outset led the objections to the proposed removal of the traditional bull hire scheme which has been of real benefit to, among others, Scotland’s crofters.
The Scottish Parliament at Holyrood today debated the issue and McGrigor joined battle, having seen off an attempt in 2004 to abandon the scheme.
In his speech, McGrigor said: ‘Little did I think in 2004 when I had a debate on a similar motion that I would be required to have another debate on this subject less than five years later! I thank members of all parties for supporting my motion on a scheme we virtually all still know as the Bull Hire Scheme. Peter Peacock has a similar and useful motion on this subject which I have also supported. (ED: this refers to a motion of support for the bull hire scheme tabled by Peter Peacock MSP and Rhoda Grant MSP which has received support from across other political parties. They are pledged to continue fighting for the retention of the scheme and will be asking various further Parliamentary Questions on issues surrounding the way the costs of the bull hire scheme are calculated, the answers to which, they believe, will provide further strength in the continuing arguments to retain the scheme.)
‘It is my job as a Highlands & Islands MSP to speak out about the concerns of my constituents and so I make no apologies for holding today’s debate on an issue that is of legitimate concern to many hundreds of my crofting constituents. And one of the crucial points I want to emphasise to the Minister is that the current bull hire scheme has helped to a great extent to maintain stock quality and health in the Highlands and Islands.
‘The future of crofting depends on having the best possible produce for the marketplace. Government should be doing all in its power to support this aim and not to diminish it. Many crofters will tell you that sheep quality has suffered since the tup hire scheme came to an end- we cannot allow this to be repeated in the beef sector, especially at a time when the SAC and RSE reports highlight the worrying decline in stock numbers. Why then does the government want to withdraw a proven and successful scheme?’
On the two reasons given for the proposed abolition of the scheme – its cost and its legality under EU rules – Jamie McGrigor dealt first with the issue of cost.
‘The annual report of the Crofters Commission 2007/08 shows an overall loss of £140,000. Interestingly, this was £100,000 less than the loss of 06/07 and was achieved though increased receipts and lower running costs. And many crofters have suggested to me that receipts could have been even greater had there been more flexibility allowed in terms of the timescale for crofters applying to the scheme.
‘So the scheme makes a small loss each year but can the Minister tell us what % of overall support to the crofting sector that loss amounts to? Wouldn’t most sensible people think it was a small price worth paying to ensure healthy and quality cattle are thriving throughout the Highlands & Islands? And can the Minister really guarantee that his alternatives will not inconvenience crofters and will cost the taxpayer less? I would be amazed if he could do this’.
On the issue of legality under EU legislation, his argument was: ‘The Crofters Commission’s own website makes clear that the scheme is permissible under “De Minimus State Aid”. What has changed? Has the legal advice given to the last Scottish Executive that specifically said the scheme could perfectly well continue under these rules suddenly altered? If so will the Minister publish such legal advice? I asked my colleague Struan Stevenson MEP and he was very clear: nothing has changed since 2004 in this regard’.
He went on to pay generous tribute to Jim Mather and then to turn that to the advatage of his argument.
‘I think Mr Mather made a key point in 2004. This is about fighting for our producers as every other country in Europe rightly does and there is a very strong case to be made. The Minister has a reputation for being clever and I agree with this and that politics is the art of the possible. Surely it is not beyond the abilities of the Minister and his officials to come up with some form of continued, centrally-run bull hire scheme that meets with any EU objections – assuming these do exist – and in doing so maintains stock quality and retains the support of the vast majority of crofters’.
McGrigor finished with a characteristically humorous flourish: ‘I look forward to the Minister’s response to this important debate. I am sure he will know this is the Chinese Year of the Ox so let it be the Scottish year of the bull’.
Public meeting in Oban – on developing policy to sustain Scotland’s hill and island agriculture
At 12.30pm on Monday 19th January in the Argyllshire Gathering Halls in Oban there is a public meeting open to everyone interested in contributing to the development of an important aspect of Argyll’s life and economy.
The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) and Argyll and Bute Council want to meet interested people with something to say about Argyll’s hill and island farms and crofts and about the needs of rural communities associated with these.
They want to discuss the findings of the RSE’s Inquiry into Scotland’s Hills and Islands. The report found that there was a critical need to integrate social, economic and environmental measures for rural areas. It recommended that communities should be given the power to act within an overall national strategy.
The RSE’s wide ranging investigation has been targeted on finding ways to secure a prosperous and environmentally-sustainable future for such economically fragile communities.
The meeting is free and open to everyone. To book a place, please contact William Hardie at The Royal Society of Edinburgh:
- by email at: whardie@royalsoced.org.uk
- by phone on: 0131 240 5031
Petition to save Bull Hire Scheme for crofters gathers strong support in Argyll
Crofters from across the Highlands and Islands, including those from Argyll have joined together to oppose the scrapping of the Bull Hire scheme by the Scottish Government, and have been expressing their fears for the future of cattle on Scotland’s islands and hills.
Jamie McGrigor MSP, an Argyll man, has been continually active in opposing the loss of the Bill Hire facility. Now his fellow Highlands and Islands regional MSPs, Peter Peacock and Rhoda Grant, have launched a petition calling for the reversal of the decision to end the scheme which provides bulls to networks of crofters or townships.
They have been bombarded with over 450 responses from crofters, calling for this valuable scheme to be saved. Amongst those are signatures from Tiree, Raasay, Iona, Jura, Acharacle, Arisaig, Taynuilt and Mull. Tiree has been particularly vocal.
Rhoda Grant, herself the daughter of a Wester Ross crofter, and Labour’s spokesperson on rural affairs, comments: ‘The Crofters comments speak volumes. There is widespread dismay at the loss of this measure which helped make it possible for crofters to keep cattle economically, and which improved the health and quality of stock.
‘Many of the areas from which we have received responses are completely unable to consider keeping a bull due to cost, available grazing and terrain. The Bull Hire scheme has allowed the quality of cattle kept and bred by crofters to be improved to a level that would be impossible without the scheme’.
Comments on the e-petition include:
- “As grazing clerk for an active township we feel that the Bull Hire Scheme is essential and will retain cattle numbers in the West Highlands and Islands. Without it the cattle will go and within a few years incentives will be offered to bring the cattle back. This will be expensive. Invest now by retaining the Bull Hire Scheme.”
- “Is this yet another attempt to make it impossible for rural communities to flourish? Profit margins are wafer thin or do not even exist. Making Crofters buy a bull to grow calves will see the end of beef production on crofts, and the end of some of the best beef on this planet. Keep the bull scheme, keep crofting alive, keep the Highlands and Islands populated by working people not just seasonal visitors.”
- “I believe the demise of this scheme will result in a big reduction in cattle in the Western Isles adversely affecting the environment and that once lost it will be virtually impossible to return to the numbers currently held.”
- “The government should look ahead a little and realise that cattle are an essential part of local economies and with a move needed toward local food as transport becomes more expensive cattle need support now. Keeping the bull hire scheme now will avoid huge cost and effort to bring cattle back if they disappear from crofting.”
- “This has been one of the most successful government schemes for farmers. It delivers real benefits to those who need it and only those that need it. It delivers sound environmental benefits in keeping cattle in the areas where they are most needed.”
- “Give the crofters a break!”
- “Absolute Bullocks to even think about ending the bull hire scheme. Crofting is going to disappear if there is going to be much more of this complete and utter nonsense !!”
Rhoda Grant says: ‘As the local opposition mounts questions have been asked about the validity of the Shucksmith recommendations and the Government’s decisions, given that they were reached before the publishing of the only recently disclosed Peter Cook report. This made clear the Government’s option of replacing the scheme with what is effectively privatisation was unworkable.
‘This view has been reflected in many of the comments I have received, together with many expressions of foreboding for the future of crofting itself, and certainly for the future of cattle on crofts.
‘The Government claims to be supporting our rural and remote crofting areas but in reality their actions in the bull hire scheme and restructuring LFAS are putting the viability of crofting at risk.”
‘The Government must reverse this decision’.
Argyll’s growing band of energised crofters would agree.