Rural Payments and Services

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead meets with new farmers at SRUC event.

It’s vitally important to engage with, and recognise the importance of, new entrants in the farming industry.

That was the message delivered by Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead as he met with farmers at the Scottish Government's New Entrants to Farming gathering hosted by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) this morning in Elgin.

Mr Lochhead said:

“It is vital that we fully engage with, and attract talented, entrepreneurial, new entrants to agriculture in Scotland in order to safeguard the future of the industry as it drives innovation and best practice, improves efficiencies and contributes towards the economic vitality of the sector as a whole.

“Agriculture is a fantastic sector to be a part of, and things are really looking up for new entrants – we’re witnessing an increase in applications to study agriculture at colleges across Scotland, new entrants will benefit from the new Common Agricultural Policy under both pillars 1 and 2 – and past new tenants who were wholly or partly frozen out under the old system will also reap the rewards.

“We are also seeing the introduction of starter farms on public land to help new entrants get a foot on the ladder, including the Scottish Government’s own starter farm at Balrobert outside Inverness.

“Now that we are well into the Year of Food and Drink, I want to emphasise just how important a role farmers play in the food and drink industry – if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have the exceptional, world-class produce that we are fortunate enough to have available to us. The hard work of farmers ploughs millions into our economy every year as the reputation of Scotland as a Land of Food and Drink continues to grow.

“It was a pleasure to meet with some of the SRUC’s new entrants this morning and I was encouraged by the passion they have for the sector. These young farmers are the future of the industry and they deserve support to grow, develop and build their businesses for years to come.”