Time is ripe for farming to embrace younger generation

SPRING is the season of renewal down on the farm, though it has to be said there is little active signs of growth in the fields. However, the past week provided the industry with the prospect of a real breath of fresh air through the appointment of James Withers as the new chief executive of NFU Scotland. He is a young man of just 31 years, but he has been involved with the fine detail of agripolitics for some time and certainly knows his way around the block.
I for one, and most within the industry, hoped he would gain this appointment and it is to the credit of the interview panel that it ignored his comparative youth and recognised his abilities.

The average age of Scotland’s farmers is regularly quoted as being 57 years.

Technically this may be correct in that those who hold the purse strings and sign the vast array of paperwork that bedevils farming may be of a senior age, but there is an army of young thrusters and entrepreneurs out there who are fast becoming the engine of modern Scottish agriculture.

David Hay seems to farm just about all the arable land around Perth while the brothers Porter in Angus have made a huge success of their softfruit business. Rob Forrest in the Borders is another whose name springs to mind as an innovator, and there are very many more whose fathers have taken a step back allowing the next generation to make a mark.

Far too often the older codgers have hung to the reins way past the time when the younger generation should have been in charge.

However, I sense a change in attitudes and this can only be for the greater good of farming and the countryside. I read the other day of a prediction that farming is on the verge of a golden era. That may be going just a shade too far, but undoubtedly the prospects are exciting at a time when people have at last come to realise that food can no longer be taken for granted.

It is also pleasing to see that the Scottish Association of Young Farmers’ Clubs is in better heart than for many years. After years of decline, membership has actually increased.

The YFC movement has not always enjoyed the best of media coverage, frequently as a result of the misdemeanours of a small minority. However, there appears now to be a greater sense of maturity and that has to be welcomed.

But that still leaves the problem of how all of those who want to make a start in farming get that first foot on the ladder without considerable parental assistance.

I well recall chatting with Alex Salmond shortly before the elections last May discussing this very issue just across the road from Holyrood. Salmond was well aware of the vexed problem and is on the record as saying that his government will provide assistance of around £1 million each year to ease the entry of young farmers into the business world.

The SNP has honoured many of is preelection pledges, but nothing appears to be happening on this front.

It is a complex subject and part of the problem is the fear on the part of landowners that a Scottish government may introduce an absolute right to buy if land is let on a traditional tenancy basis. Only last week a leading firm of lawyers advised its clients to think very carefully before letting land.

With a little goodwill on all sides this issue could be resolved. The law may need to be amended, but I am certain that there would be allparty support for any measure that seeks to encourage new blood to enter the industry. So please Mr Salmond, get your lawyers to work.

SOMETHING remarkable, but not before time, happened last week with prime cattle at the weekly sale held by Caledonian Marts in Stirling averaging over 150p per kilo through the ring. This is a record.

At last producers of prime cattle are coming close to achieving a fair price for their labours, but it is still not enough.

However, all the indications suggest that prices will go higher and that the deadweight trade will be close to 270p per kilo around the time of the Royal Highland Show as against the 250p plus which is currently on offer. Consumers will have to pay the price if they want beef on their plates.

However, I was astonished to hear of a plea from the militant Farmers for Action group for producers to withhold cattle unless the trade upped prices substantially. This was in effect a call for farmers to go on strike. To go down such a route at a time when prices are rising would be totally irresponsible and serve only to lose the trust of consumers.

Besides, it just does not make good business sense in that cattle should be sold when they are ready for market. Hanging on to animals would only result in them becoming too heavy and overfat for the market. In addition I suspect that not too many businesses could stand theinevitable stress on cash flows.

Fortunately, Jim Kennedy, the chairman of the Scottish Beef Cattle Association – a man who has the reputation of being something of a firebrand – dismissed any thoughts of withholding cattle. Workers in industry can sometimes achieve their aims by going on strike and mounting picket lines. But it cannot ever work with perishable commodities like beef or milk. The laws of supply and demand always win: it has happened with milk where reduced production resulted in higher prices and the same logic will prevail with beef.

Indeed that same trend is evident right around the world, with commodity values much higher than a year ago. Yes, there will be the odd blip along the way but almost all the indicators are positive. The industry will need all those young eager spirits and they must be given every chance if there is to be enough food to go around.