Report publications signal a sustainable future for farming and food production
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A whole industry approach to tackling climate change and restoring and enhancing biodiversity within food production and farming in Scotland has been set out in reports published by the sector-led groups.
The groups which cover arable, dairy, pigs, suckler beef and hill and upland crofting were set up late last year to provide advice and proposals on action key agricultural sectors should take to cut emissions and tackle climate change – and how government might support them to do that.
The detailed proposals and ideas within these reports will now be considered by government as it begins its work to create a new rural support scheme – as required to do by statute by 2026.
Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: “I am pleased to welcome the findings of the farmer-led groups.
"I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the Group Chairs and Members for their hard work and commitment in drafting their reports in what was a short timescale and against a backdrop of EU Exit and COVID-19 and on top of their day jobs.
"They have sought to tackle some difficult issues and brought forward practical proposals along with a real desire to drive transformation of our agriculture sector.
“Setting up these groups was an important Programme for Government commitment to help reduce emissions and tackle climate change, which has long been a priority for Scotland, shown in our world-leading, ambitious targets.
"Awareness of the importance of farming sustainably, and in particular in ways which reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has never been higher in farming communities.
“We will now take some time to analyse what the Groups have said but, perhaps most importantly, the Groups have agreed that a unified approach to developing a new agricultural programme is key. This is the start of a very exciting journey that will change farming and food production in Scotland for the better.”
The reports can be found online at the following links -
https://www.sasa.gov.uk/document-library/arable-climate-change-group-report
https://www.gov.scot/publications/hill-upland-and-crofting-group-initial-findings-report
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-pig-industry-leadership-group-report
https://www.gov.scot/groups/suckler-beef-climate-group-programme-board/
https://www.gov.scot/publications/dairy-sector-climate-change-group-report
