Concern at productivity growth slowdown

The aim of the Scottish Government is to grow output in the agrifood sector so that by 2017 some £12 billion worth of goods are produced in this country.

However, new research by the Scottish Agricultural College's Rural Policy Centre has revealed that, although Scotland's agricultural productivity still compares well against other UK nations, productivity is not rising as fast as it once was.

Dr Andrew Barnes co-author of the report, described the decline as "worrying" because of its potential impact on the industry's position in export markets and the risk of losses of market share to imports.

If Scotland is to produce more in the future, the report suggests that changes need to be made to remove the barriers to farmers' adoption of cost-saving, efficiency-boosting new technologies.

Part of the decline occurred after the link between production and subsidy was broken in the early 2000 with the removal of headage support payments. But the report also highlights the drop in funding for research and development in the last decades of the 20th century as contributing to the lack of productivity growth. Another major factor picked up is the shift away from production towards wider social issues.

It also points to the "negative consequences of subsidies such as restricting access to new entrants and avoidance of market risk".

Looking to the future, Barnes believed that the levy boards have a particular part to play because they run applied research programmes with an emphasis on translating research findings into practice.

"In addition, the development of small scale projects funded by farmers' organisations, such as machinery rings, would allow more ownership of research findings and possibly encourage uptake," he said.

The report's authors also believes that the current reform of the Common Agricultural Policy provides opportunities for targeting and rewarding innovative behaviour, either through support for high-cost capital projects or encouraging uptake of new knowledge and techniques from advisory schemes

In the global context, Barnes, stated that productivity was a key indicator of international competitiveness and, in a world of increasing pressure on resources such as water and nutrients, it was fundamental to providing a sustainable agricultural industry.

With increased emphasis on world food production, the performance of Scotland and the rest of the UK have been compared with other countries around the world.

Output in Brazil and China have rocketed while the level of productivity in older industrialised countries have followed the trend of in the UK.