Scottish farming cannot live on food security slogans forever

The hot spell after the wet spring has seen an explosion of grass growth, particularly in fields shut off for silage. Michael and the award-winning Laird team from Cumnock have managed to battle their way through the biggest first cut of silage I’ve seen for years. I’m not quite sure how agriculture contractors stay sane in a year like this, to be honest.

Hanging about for days on end waiting for the weather to improve and then, when it does, everyone wants their services at the same time. Farming can be challenging, but providing these invaluable services to farmers takes the word ‘challenging’ to a whole new level. In fact, to make matters us feel even better, I happened to be playing golf near Dirleton in East Lothian last weekend and driving from Edinburgh through Longniddry, my eyes were nearly popping out of my head. Having left cold winds, six degrees and blashy showers, there were irrigators going all over the place – the contrast with the weather we are having to contend with is unreal.

Stock, particularly lambs, could do with some settled warm weather – not the heat we had briefly in May which was almost as stressful on all stock as the cold and wet we’ve experienced since – just something a bit more seasonal or, dare I say it, ‘normal’, would be nice. Lamb numbers coming forward for slaughter will definitely be delayed unless the sun appears.

‘Normal’ is a word that doesn’t get used much these days about anything in the world we seem to live in now. The only thing that could be described as ‘normal’ is the fact that our worlds have all been upended by a handful of lunatics masquerading as politicians both at home and abroad, and that doesn’t look like it is going to change any time soon. The ongoing disaster in Ukraine has now descended into senseless killing and destruction for its own sake. And despite the peace deal in the Middle East, I wouldn’t bet the price of a cast ewe, never mind a lamb, on this bringing stability to the region. What was it all for?

But even with all this going on, we have got a Prime Minister and Chancellor who can’t even fund the defence of our country in the face of the most dangerous security situation the world has faced in my lifetime. We keep hearing worthless rhetoric about the importance of our security, energy security and food security, but the reality is that this is no more than political spin. There is absolutely no policy or strategy for any of these, north or south of the border. In the case of food security, if you read through the pages of the recent Scottish Farmer issues, it appears that ordinary folk, or dare I say ‘normal’ folk are having one conversation and the politicians and their lackeys are having a totally different one on the subject of food production.

Last week’s SF headline was about the reduction in emissions from agriculture in the last 30 years, (if you can believe the numbers, that is…), mainly driven by the decimation of the Scottish suckler herd and sheep flocks. The Climate Change Committee which advises the UK and devolved governments on emission targets is clearly happy with this as the continuing decline in cattle and sheep numbers appears to be their main advice on agricultural emissions to governments. Despite vociferous opposition to this from farmers and their supporters, this policy continues to have widespread support amongst the political classes and their officials across the UK. I experienced it up close and personal, helping to write the Suckler Beef Climate Scheme 5 years ago – and despite public denials in Scotland, it hasn’t gone away. And now the appalling Ed Milliband has jumped onto this particular bandwagon, confirming that the UK government would adopt an 87% emissions reduction target by 2040 compared to 1990 levels, including reducing red meat consumption.

Although it is claimed by the Starmer government that the contents of the CCC report do not amount to government policy, Milliband has endorsed the report which clearly states: “The transition involves less meat and dairy in the average UK diet, with the aim to reduce UK livestock numbers and free up land for measures such as woodland creation, while not increasing imports of meat and dairy.”Milliband is close to Chris Stark, who is ex-CCC, and who has peddled this line for years, so believe me, this represents a real threat, especially when Starmer and Reeves are more interested in saving their own careers than looking after the voters who gave them the chance.

The pressures in Scotland are no different, with the new Chair of the Holyrood Rural Affairs Committee being the Green MSP Mark Ruskell, who has already publicly raised and supported the CCC line of reducing livestock numbers in Scotland. In October 2025 he stated in Parliament: “To be clear, the [SNP] government has ignored the CCC’s advice on reducing livestock numbers. On that policy alone, one megatonne of emissions will now have to be cut from somewhere else in society. Who will deliver that missing megatonne?," he asked.

So, across politics there are constant attacks on food production, particularly red meat and dairy, yet there doesn’t seem to be a coherent and, more importantly, a robust strategy amongst our representatives and lobby groups to counter this propaganda.

The market signals for sheepmeat and beef across the world are encouraging as the current lamb trade shows, and despite the normal summer games being played by Irish owned beef processors in the UK. So, reducing livestock numbers further flies in the face of consumer choice despite the demands/wishes of Milliband et al.

But QMS telling us we need to keep an extra cow or a few extra ewes might please the crowd at the Highland Show, but what does it actually achieve? The evidence of the last 20 years suggests nothing. It is the coherent implementation of a strategy to achieve this, backed up by more than just hope, underpinned by a policy framework from government that could actually turn this tide. But we don’t have that and no-one is driving this inside or outside government despite the announcements and rhetoric.

Meanwhile, the anti-meat and dairy lobby has become a powerful, well-organised group which is now totally embedded in the very heart of the political system across all parts of the UK. These people do not represent the views of the majority of ordinary citizens but because they have the ear of politicians, their advisers and officials who are sympathetic and, in many cases, supportive of this extremist nonsense, they don’t need to. They ignore the reality of living in the world as it is today, and instead lecture us about the world as it should be in their eyes. And nowadays the new political class that has emerged from our previously comfortable, now WOKE, existence is part of this dangerous nonsense.

This is a bit like the Ukraine, where many European leaders wouldn’t believe that Putin would invade, despite all the warning signals. So by the time he did, it was too late - and look at it now!

With food security, by the time folk are hungry it will be too late. The warning signs are there but politicians are listening to the wrong folk because our lobbyists are too weak and spend too much time talking to each other. And I’m afraid Honest John capping the price of a loaf of bread and being preoccupied protecting his former boss, Wee Nicola, won’t lift a finger – the evidence of the lack of a coherent agriculture policy in Scotland for the last 10 years proves that. At least we now know why his former boss paid little attention to agriculture – she seems to have been preoccupied with the new toys mysteriously bought for her. And as for Starmer, he won’t be there long enough even if he were interested – so God knows what power Milliband and his zealots will have shortly. So if we are really serious about increasing livestock numbers, or saving the pig industry for that matter, we had better get our act together soon!