Jim Walker, chair at Suckler Beef Climate Group Programme Board, said: "The computer system is knackered and has been knackered for years. It has been held up by blue tack and sticky tape for years. It is a significant problem. Can anyone on this committee tell me any Government agency that has worked with zero inflation, zero increases in real-terms spending over the last 25 years like agriculture has? Agriculture and support payments are still in the dark ages because we have an illusion that we will be back in Europe again."
Agricultural support systems in Scotland have been criticised for being 'outdated and ineffective' in helping farmers deliver for food production, the climate emergency and nature recovery.
During a Rural Affairs and Islands Committee on Wednesday (March 12) to discuss decarbonisation in agriculture, panelists from across the Scottish agricultural sector discussed the pressures facing Scottish farmers with basic payments, such as the Whole Farm Plan (WFP), requiring farmers to show how they are delivering for the environment.
It comes as farmers in England were left furious as they were dealt another ‘shattering blow' as Defra decided to ‘pull the drawbridge' on the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) in 2024 with no warning, denying farmers the chance to submit any new applications.
READ NOW: Raising Inheritance Tax threshold could 'save' British farming
The announcement on Tuesday (March 11) brought into question Defra's ‘transparency' and its capacity to deliver an agricultural transition as promised, with the NFU president Tom Bradshaw branding Defra as a ‘failing department.'
Back in Scotland, Jonnie Hall, deputy-chief executive and director of policy at NFU Scotland, said there needs to be a significant shift in transforming rural support payments into a ‘more efficient' system which provides farmers with ‘financial underpinning' to deliver food security, climate restoration and biodiversity gain.
"Some things have changed a lot," he added.
"Very much operating under CAP support schemes. Powers have not been used in a meaningful way.
Join our free webinar: Unpacking the Chancellor's Spring Statement and Inheritance Tax planning
"No significant progress from Scottish Government to deliver a more efficient system which delivers for food security and nature.
"In limbo. Need to move forward with financial underpinning. Pressure on the agricultural sector to deliver for food production but climate and biodiversity is increasing all the time.
"Agriculture sector cannot do that without financial underpinning required and a regulatory framework to prosper."
Pete Ritchie, director at Nourish Scotland, argued Scottish Government has not come up with a coherent way to help farmers through subsidy schemes to support nature restoration, which instead has placed ‘further pressure' on the sector.
Kate Rowell, FG's In Your Field writer and chair at Quality Meat Scotland, said messaging from Government about payments and schemes has left farmers with ‘reduced confidence and certainty'.
"There is a lack of certainty among farmers about what is coming," Ms Rowell added.
"They [farmers] are being told a transition is coming but they do not know what that means. That has resulted in a lack of investment because they are holding off to see what is happening next.
PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT: Join Farmers Guardian's Save Britain's Family Farms campaign
"It has also resulted in a lack of confidence in the future, a lack of succession and new entrants coming into the sector. Youngsters are sat at home wondering what to do next.
"They will not be encouraged to join the business. We need to change that as soon as we can."
Jim Walker, chair at Suckler Beef Climate Group Programme Board, said the Scottish Government's system for supporting farmers was ‘not fit for purpose' and said decline in cattle numbers has placed a 'burden' on farmers.
"Cattle numbers have dropped significantly in 40 years," Mr Walker added.
"There were 2.68 million cattle in 1973, now there is 1.68 million. There are only 180,000 dairy cows left in Scotland.
SIGN THE PETITION: Embed food, farming, and sustainability education into the national curriculum
"We are less than 60% self sufficient in food in the UK, whereas in the 1980s, we were nearly 80% when you think about what is happening right now in the world war, political instability and trade wars across the planet with tariffs from the US.
"But here we are talking about a climate emergency."
Mr Walker said a lack of coherent agricultural policy in Scotland has 'held the industry back'.
He added: "The way support payments have been delivered to farmers is not fit for purpose.
"The computer system is knackered and has been knackered for years. It has been held up by blue tack and sticky tape for years. It is a significant problem.
"Can anyone on this committee tell me any Government agency that has worked with zero inflation, zero increases in real-terms spending over the last 25 years like agriculture has?
"Agriculture and support payments are still in the dark ages because we have an illusion that we will be back in Europe again."
Alongside declining cattle numbers, the Suckler Beef Climate Group Programme Board chair said layers of regulation has led to farming becoming an 'unprofitable sector'.
LISTEN NOW:
"Reduced cattle goes back to the 1990s with the BSE crisis. We were banned from export markets for 10 years and the UK beef industry fell into the clutches of Irish beef processors supplying multiple retail sectors in the UK," Mr Walker added.
"They dominated that trade market and because producing beef cattle was not profitable, farmers voted with their feet.
"Add on to that layers of regulation, specifically environmental issues and slurry control, you have an unprofitable sector.
"It is only over the last 12 months where the issue has started to be addressed."
Neil Wilson, executive director at the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland said conditionality elements in schemes, such as the carbon audit in the WFP, had placed a ‘barrier' to farmers who were ‘struggling' to see its value to businesses and the environment.
Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said farmers will need to deliver ‘new things' in return for payments and added it will help the sector to produce high quality food in a way that helps tackle climate change and enhance nature.
READ NOW: Views sought from farming families in struggle to claim Universal Credit support
