By Jim Walker

We embarked on our bi-annual pilgrimage to London last weekend with more hope than at any time in the last 10 years for some kind of positive result at Twickenham. 
Wow, how wrong could we have been? Scotland never laid a glove on a fantastic English team at any stage during the game. 
Thankfully the sun was shining and it was a lovely spring day so we were able to drown our sorrows. I usually record these matches and watch them on the TV after the game but on this occasion I didn’t bother, the thought of it was just too depressing.
Mind you not as depressing as the verbal tsunami that is about to engulf us across our airways, newspapers and TV screens after the latest announcement from Nicola Sturgeon. 
If it wasn’t already bad enough that we are having to listen to endless drivel about Brexit we are now also going to have to suffer another Independence referendum campaign apparently for up to two years.
I’m quite interested in politics but I find this prospect absolutely appalling. The bile, the propaganda, the lies, the claims and counter claims will be even worse than the last time being mixed up in the whole Brexit pantomime. Political commentators, and journalists I’m sure will have a great time but as for the rest of us, what a complete shambles.
And while the biggest political bunfight in living memory rages on over the next couple of years I have one simple question, who will be minding the shop?
Most folk I know are interested in what is happening in their world today, tomorrow or next week. 
They will undoubtedly have a view on Brexit or independence but they just want to get on with their lives with a bit more certainty than politicians seem able to deliver us in the current totally manic political climate.
With the news full of day to day problems in the NHS and other public services – just drive round on Scottish roads at the moment – I can’t help but wonder who is going to concentrate on actually governing the country north or south of the border while all of this is going on.
More particularly in Scottish agriculture we continue to be plagued by bureaucracy and delivery failures courtesy of the Scottish Government. 
To be honest I wouldn’t be quite so bothered if I saw an end in sight but that just isn’t the case whatever the latest press release might claim. 
At no time in my farming life have I ever known such an extended period of uncertainty. It has been a recurring theme of the last two or three years.
Volatile markets and currency movements partly influenced by Brexit, even the election of the unpredictable Donald Trump, and now the prospect of another independence referendum will all increase the uncertainty for all of us in an already uncertain world. 
Couple these big macro events with the problems created by the total inability of the Scottish Government to get a grip of any of our support systems and the recipe is pretty unpalatable. 
Here we are in the third week of March and we still have no idea when either our BPS or LFASS will be paid, and in our case what they will be worth.
I have written about this so often now I am getting sick of my own voice. What I don’t get is the fact that this appears to be acceptable to all involved either in the delivery of this unholy mess or those that claim they are lobbying on behalf of the industry.
The silence is deafening while the cash flow issues on many farms continue seemingly out of sight so out of mind – it really is quite extraordinary.
We are constantly being bombarded by press releases from politicians of all persuasions claiming they are going to get the best deal for our country whether in Brexit negotiations or now no doubt if Scotland was independent. But what I just can’t see is any evidence of this in our every day lives.
As examples on top of the Scottish Government’s inability to implement and manage an IT system to pay a few farmers some subsidy, the UK Government in Andrea Leadsom has an Agriculture Minister that doesn’t have any policies for agriculture at all, never mind after Brexit. 
In such circumstances planning and budgeting for potential investments (and by definition returns) in an industry where most investments are medium or long term is all but impossible.
I guess all this nonsense and uncertainty just underlines the strategy we are implementing in our own business is about the best we can do in such circumstances. Make the core business scaleable and as efficient as possible while developing other sources of income outwith agriculture which are not quite as reliant on the whims of politicians. Or at least not the same group of politicians in the case of renewable energy projects!
The only other thing that actually gives me some hope for the future is that in a time of such uncertainty and confusion, opportunities will certainly arise for businesses prepared to think outside the box and take a punt. 
I have no idea what they might be but we need to be ready to respond to them when they do appear.
Mind you all this will just need to wait not only for politicians to deliver, but also because for the next few weeks all this will be put on the back burner with calving in full swing and lambing about to start. 
With nearly 600 cows to calve in ten weeks we are approaching half way. In bye ewes are only 10 days to a fortnight off lambing and with a big scanning percentage in these groups, and the hill ewes due in mid April full of lambs as well, the next six weeks will be full on.
And it won’t be politicians that control these events as ever it will be ‘Mother Nature’. As Winston Churchill said: “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”. 
With so many things going on in the world that we can’t control, we better just stay optimistic then, whatever happens.
But one thing is certain in all of this, that politicians need to remember as they faff about with endless, worthless promises and U turns. If agriculture is to survive never mind prosper in whatever post Brexit world we end up with, invest we must or we simply won’t be able to compete.