Meeting of the Parliament 04 March 2025
The regulations seek to introduce the foundations of the whole-farm plan approach as a condition of the basic payment scheme. I make it clear that this is about ensuring that our farmers and crofters have the information that they need to be more productive and more profitable. The approach will baseline their current practices, allowing them to progress and to measure their progress.
We had an extremely interesting meeting today with John Gilliland, who states:
“If you can’t measure, you can’t manage it.”
What we are doing will highlight the good practices that are already being undertaken to help people to identify where they could become more efficient, cut emissions and increase biodiversity while continuing to produce the high-quality food that we all want them to produce.
In 2025, we are asking that two of the following plans and audits be undertaken: an animal health and welfare plan, a nature report, a carbon report, an integrated pest management plan and a soil report. Businesses are free to select which two they undertake, based on their situation, and two of the requirements already have equivalents—an example is the animal welfare plan from Quality Meat Scotland. We have been asked about that regularly.
I make it clear that the whole-farm plan approach was developed with the industry. We have worked with farmers, crofters, agricultural stakeholders, skills delivery partners and our environmental partners to develop the new conditionality. I note the recent response from the Scottish Crofting Federation. Let me be clear that crofting is a vital part of our rural economy culturally, economically and socially. That is why my officials and I have worked, and continue to work, with the crofting community to ensure that the proposals meet their needs, and it is why I have instructed my officials to write to the chief executive of the Scottish Crofting Federation, asking her to meet me to discuss the best way forward.
The regulations have been drafted to come into force on 5 March 2025 so that farmers and crofters can set out in their single application forms which two plans they have chosen this year. The SAF window opens on 15 March and is expected to close on 15 May.