13 Mar 2019
Scottish farming continues to struggle according to the latest figures released by the Scottish Government.
The statistics, released in the Scottish Agricultural Survey this week, show that numbers of some livestock continue to decrease and Less Favoured Area rents continue to rise.
While winter-planted crops increased over the past year, last year’s dry weather resulted in slight drops in grass silage/haylage production.
This drop in hay production has led to some farmers reporting a shortage of animal feed and increasing costs.
Donald Cameron, Scottish Conservative shadow rural economy and connectivity secretary said;
“Sadly these figures do not show the kind of growth and dynamism that we would like to see in the Scottish farming sector.
“The pressures of increasing rents on LFA land and increasing feed costs due to shortages of winter feed are clearly hitting farmers hard.
“It is therefore crucial that the SNP government gets appropriate and long term funding in place for the sector to ensure stability and security post Brexit.
“It is quite clear that Scottish farming needs the new approach that the Scottish Conservatives set out in our recent policy document.
“Now is the time to secure a vibrant future for this industry, not the managed decline the SNP appear to think is inevitable.”
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