Agribusiness News July 2024

Welcome to the July edition of Agribusiness News.  If you prefer to download this document click the download button.

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Ag & Rural Communities Bill passed – what next?

Headline news this month in the Scottish farming is that the Agricultural and Rural Communities Bill was passed into law on the 19^th June, following final amendments in stage 3 of review. The Bill provides a framework of principles under which the details of agricultural and rural support will be developed going forward, and was accompanied by reassurance from the First Minister that support will not ‘fall off a cliff edge’.

Now that the Bill has been passed, discussion as to what tiers of payments could and should look like ramped up at the Royal Highland Show, with a particular focus on what conditionality should be emphasised, and in which tiers and schemes. Last month’s Sector Focus in Agribusiness News provided an overview of the outline for agricultural payment structures going forward. With the new 3-year Farm Advisory Service contract having been recently awarded, and upcoming consultations on Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System design expected later this year, these are ideal opportunities for the industry to be flagging what areas of training and advice are most needed to help adapt to changing policy.

The Royal Highland Show attracted 220,000 people, a record number of visitors. Due to the pre-election period, the Show was quiet on policy announcements, although lively independent debates were held on the Land Reform Bill, and SRUC on the future of LFASS (Less Favoured Area Support Scheme – podcast forthcoming).

Briefly, June also saw the release of 2022 greenhouse gas emissions for Scotland, indicating that emissions reduced 0.1% overall from 2021 (and 50.1% reduction since 1990), with a 3.3% reduction in agriculture (12% since 1990). reductions between 2021 and 2022 have been attributed to reduced fertiliser use due to high prices, as well as reflecting long term decline in livestock numbers.

Next month:

• Plant extracts for enteric methane reduction
• Livestock marketing

This month’s editor:
Anna Sellars