Farming demonstrations or rallies seem to be a bit like buses – you wait for ages, then three come along at once.
The two major events which took place down in London earlier this week in protest at the ill-judged and misguided changes to inheritance tax received a fair bit of media coverage.
But these are to be followed by another rally at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh next Thursday.
This one, however, is more of a pre-emptive move rather than a reactive one.
The idea is to get in ahead of the unveiling of the Scottish Government’s budget in early December.
And also to highlight the importance and opportunities which would come from investing a fair share of the block budget in Scotland’s food and farming sectors.
Behind this event lies the fact that while the Westminster fired a blunderbuss into the heart of the industry on the tax front, it also saw the UK Government wash its hands of any commitment to providing a multi-annual, ring-fenced budget for farming.
This degree of certainty was provided for almost 50 years through the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, ensuring agricultural funding went to farmers.
But the move to lump this funding in with the rest of Scotland’s overall block grant means the Scottish Government now has total control over how much goes to the farming sector.
There’ll be lots of hands stretched out for a share of Holyrood cash
You may be inclined to think that, with the rural sector representing a more significant part of the electorate in Scotland than down south, this might be a good thing.
But the fact the Scottish Government will have plenty of hands stretched out and attempting to corner increases in the block budgets simply can’t be ignored.
And, to be perfectly blunt, recent history hasn’t indicated that farming will be anywhere near the front of this queue.
£46m owed to Scottish farmers
There is also £46 million of the £61m that was siphoned from the farming budget in recent years still outstanding, albeit with repeated promises that it will be returned.
This was used to shore up increased spending in the public sector.
I got the impression that, while a welcome addition to the proceedings, the attendance of First Minister John Swinney to address farmers at last week’s AgriScot event was primarily aimed at managing expectations.
Putting experience gathered during 27 years representing a rural constituency and frequent meetings with farmers to good use, the first minister said a lot which probably pleased the crowd.
This included a commitment to challenge the UK Government on its changes to inheritance tax.
Mood music heavy on caution
But when it came to committing on future funding, the mood music was heavy on caution, with a focus on the uncertainties which the UK Government’s decision to incorporate the farming budget into the rest of the block grant – making it subject to the Barnett formula – would bring.
After this I asked him directly if he thought farmers would be disappointed they wouldn’t get a fair share of the record increases in the block grants which Scotland will receive over the next two years.
First minister highlighted ‘vulnerabilities’
Mr Swinney said he couldn’t reveal the contents of the budget and would get into a phenomenal amount of trouble if he did.
He focused instead on what he claimed were “vulnerabilities” in the agricultural budget which had arisen since the removal of funding certainty provided by the EU before Brexit.
But this was a bit of a deflection, as the truth of the matter is the decision on how much is spent on agriculture now lies entirely in the hands of the Scottish Government.
And its responsibility to deliver a fair share of the overall budget needs to be hammered home at the Holyrood rally next Thursday.
Otherwise, all the many long hours and much angst that have gone into drawing up Scotland’s as-yet unrevealed new farm policy could all be for naught.
Brian Henderson farms a mix of arable and livestock enterprises with his family on their farm in Perthshire.
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