SNP's rural policies looking like the weather: a washout

Published on Sunday 10 August 2008 22:28

IT HAS been the week of the wellie: seldom in my memory has there ever been a first week in August to match the recent downpours.

However, some sages of senior years will recall that 60 years ago East Lothian and Berwickshire experienced disastrous floods that swept away countless bridges and sealed the termination of local rail lines in that area. My grandfather's diary remains a testimony to that time.

The weather is the ultimate variable in farming and it certainly looks as though the cereal sector is in for a tough time unless the sun begins to shine.

Harvest is going to be later than usual. Travelling down to the Borders on Saturday, I could net help but notice just how green were many fields of spring barley on higher land. It will be no surprise if the combines are still at work in October – and then of course modern harvesting equipment is so vast and heavy that the land may not be able to carry the tackle.

Yes, shades of 1985 when pea viners and combines were on occasion bogged down for days.

If it has not been a good weather-week, the past seven days have also proved difficult for the SNP and its agricultural policies.

Let's start with the call from Pete Wishart MP, who broke ranks from his MSP colleagues by calling for reopening of the debate on biotechnology – in plain terms, genetically modified crops.

Alex Salmond made it abundantly clear at the Royal Highland Show that he is vehemently opposed to GM crops. He claims that the adoption of GM technology will destroy Scotland's so-called green image. Just ten days ago at Dumfries Show I tackled environment minister, Mike Russell, on the issue, but to no avail.

I applaud Wishart for having the courage to go public on this topic. The fact is that the world is an increasingly hungry place and GM has a role in helping to feed the burgeoning billions who inhabit the planet.

Europe will get left behind unless it considers the potential of GM crops. Tens of millions of acres of GM crops are grown in both North and South America, India and China as well as in many other countries, with no obvious ill-effects. Indeed in many instances far less herbicides are required.

That is highly pertinent, given the proposed ban by the EU on a wide range of agricultural chemicals. My colleague Andrew Arbuckle reported on Friday that a highly respected expert claimed that if the Brussels ban was implemented then UK production could fall by as much as 40 per cent.

It has been proven conclusively that disease resistance can be bred into crops by using GM technology. It could be done with potatoes. We are not going see to the countryside covered with GM crops, but surely Scotland, with its long and distinguished record in agricultural science, should at least reconsider the issue and not be put off by the flat earth brigade.

The SNP is also in trouble with its backtracking on the election pledge to introduce a scheme for new entrants into the industry with an annual budget of 10 million. I heard Salmond make that promise at a conference in Edinburgh and subsequently discussed it with him one-to-one. This was to be a key element of SNP rural policy, but it has now been watered down to just 2m with very little detail of how it will operate.

Yet another example of smoke and mirrors from the SNP came with the announcement of a 1m package to help the troubled pig sector. It sounded like a welcome move, but the devil is in the detail. I certainly do not swallow every utterance from NFU Scotland, but I agree with its comments that the Scottish Government has largely ignored the recommendations of a pig task force set up Richard Lochhead, the Cabinet secretary for rural affairs.

The fact is there is very little new money available: of the 1m said to be offered, 200,000 comes from the aid package of last autumn to compensate producers for the effects of foot-and-mouth disease, while a further 700,000 relates to labelling in the National Food Programme, details of which have still to be finalised.

Sorry Mr Lochhead, but you are also in the soup over the chaos surrounding the Rural Priorities Scheme, which in theory will make about 800m available to farmers and crofters between now and 2013. The understanding is that about 1,700 applications have been lodged, but a fair proportion have come from businesses seeking approval for more than one venture. The government also appears to have assumed that all applications would be tendered online.

The fact is that not every farmer is computer literate or has access to a broadband connection. Another problem is that those who wish to roll over existing environmental projects into the new scheme may find that there is no cash available until 2010.

No, it was not a good week for the SNP.

FINALLY, I did enjoy my time spent at the Moredun Research Institute's annual open on Friday.

The Moredun is a fantastic establishment right at the forefront of combating animal diseases. It is also worth noting that only 48 per cent of its funding comes from the public purse, with the rest derived from a wide range of contracts with commercial concerns.

Ten years ago about 80 per cent of the funding came from government in various guises. That surely demonstrates the worth of a successful public and private partnership.

But there has been some hint of a possible merger between Moredun and the Scottish Agricultural College. Moredun, quite correctly in my view, does not want to move in that direction, but it is more than happy to work in partnership with sister organisations.