SIR, – Perhaps Maimie Paterson should engage less with the professional outrage and more with the facts! 

At no point did I say BPS wasn’t necessary or that farmers are not good business people, but I can assure her and everyone else, there are plenty in the wider community who think it’s wrong we are subsidised and if we can’t manage our finances better, we shouldn’t be in business or in receipt of public funds. 
 
NFUS claimed that it had changed the narrative of the rally, but unfortunately for farming, failed to get that message to the public. 
 
Maimie also seems happy to minimise and completely trash a strong relationship built up by the Scottish Government and ‘the voice of Scottish farming’, ie NFUS, by demanding the head of the best agricultural minister we have had in a generation. All this at a time when we as a minority group will need all the government support we can muster.
 
Maimie and everyone else who supported the rally at Holyrood who are genuinely interested in protecting Scottish agriculture need to get their heads up and see what is actually happening beyond the end of their noses. Our industry has never been under so much attack, and the threats are coming from many quarters. 
 
Rewilding Britain blame farmers for everything and want our countryside to house lynx, wolves, bears and a range of others which will do little for the viability of livestock farming. 
 
Forestry groups want the traditional Caledonian Pine forests returned. Access groups want unfettered access at any time to do as they please anywhere on the land.
 
Supermarkets continue to come up with new ways to screw the price down for the primary producer, through spec changes at a moment’s notice, new rules on numbers of movements of cattle and by trying to get sheep finishers onto contracts, using dairy contracts to divide and conquer by giving contracts to the few while leaving most out. 
 
The practice of co-mingling still exists and, as Jim Brown pointed out last week, our Scotch brand is not commanding a premium right now on the beef shelves. The discussion around that is for another day and will be for another organisation. 
 
There are sizeable sections of the British public who still see farmers as subsidy junkies, the very same people as I pointed out in my previous letter who are asking the questions a) why are we paying farmers subsidy from public funds at a time of huge austerity cuts? And b) are these people such poor business people they haven’t sorted out their finances to cover a predicted delay in payments? 
 
Add to that mix a UK government which is determined to stop all direct payments to farmers, and is currently marching the UK out of the EU despite what Cameron et al say (the only safeguard farming has while we are still part of the UK. NFUS can get no assurances 
of UK government support in the event of Brexit) and you have a perfect storm with the ability to decimate our industry to the point of no return.
 
If Maimie or any of the anti SNP banner wavers demanding Lochhead’s resignation think the political element who joined them last Thursday have our industry’s interest at heart, they should think again. 
 
The rally was punctuated by Tory parliamentary candidates and opposition politicians, some jeering while John Swinney and Richard Lochhead were announcing a £200 million injection of national funds. That’s despicable! 
 
We should also be asking why the NFUS and Ian Duncan, Tory MEP, did a joint press briefing on 1/3/16 making false claims about the EU launching an investigation into the delays in payments. 
 
If NFUS is to be seen as apolitical, then I suggest adding credibility to erroneous pronunciations in the European Conservative and Reformist group website is not the way to do it. 
 
Maimie talks about the shambles we have been subjected to. She should cast her mind back to 2006 when the UK government switched to area payments. By end of March that year, only 4%, yes 4%, of farmers had been paid anything, and it took more than a year to get all payments out – and how much money did the UK give to the farmers who were waiting? Zero! 
 
And to this day, there are still major delays in many countries, including England annually. 
 
So Maimie should get off her high horse and recognise that while this has been a difficult time, the facts are that most farmers in Scotland have taken steps to manage their business prudently and in the knowledge delays were likely. 
 
The Scottish Government implemented the system that NFUS wanted, and there are numerous quotes from NFUS senior board members who all admitted they knew and accepted the risk of delays. 
 
When the failings occurred the Scottish Government took steps to lessen the pain with the £20 million loan scheme. When it was clear that the delays would continue, John Swinney found the £200 million from his annual budget (his prudent annual underspend he keeps for emergencies that the Tories, Labour and Lib
Dems all vilify him for) to make sure we get paid before the deadline date. 
 
It should also be noted that the Scottish Government continues to support agriculture on a regular basis, not least of all when the Land Reform Review group recommended removal of the rates exemption for farm buildings was thrown out by the government on first reading. 
 
The NFUS had an opportunity to walk away with a significant feather in their cap on March 4, but they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by holding that rally after the Scottish Government had announced a £200 million fund for Scottish farming. 
 
Once again the SNP have proven that they are the best supporting government Scottish agriculture has ever had.