Roger Crofts

“I see real and continuing tensions between agriculture and forestry agendas on the one hand and those of the natural heritage on the other. There remains a fundamental failure that other government programmes are not being sufficiently reoriented to help reduce the consequences of traditional land uses through new ways of thinking and acting. The agricultural support budget of around £650 million is more than an order of magnitude greater than the NatureScot budget. There are clear examples in legislation, and action on the ground, to back up my observation. The Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 is a classic reflection of retaining the status quo. A four tier system has been maintained with lack of real clarity on the inclusion and effectiveness of measures to combat climate change and to swing the biodiversity trends in a positive direction. There is urgency in developing and implementing the Code of Practice on Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture in the 2024 Act. But will it recognise the climate change and nature recovery roles alongside the food production roles of agriculture and the soil, will it be linked to farm financial support and how will it be enforced? These are all fundamental questions that need to be addressed urgently by the Scottish Government.”
― Roger Crofts, Scottish Natural Heritage: An Insider’s View