Farming’s Retreat from the Hills

This 2008 report documented the changes in livestock production, and associated impacts on family farms and crofts, and the environment as a result of poor economic conditions and changing agricultural policy support for beef and sheep production in Scotland. The report examined the statistical data to illustrate geospatially where there was significant decline in the number of sheep being farmed in the hill, islands and upland areas of Scotland. A section on the economics of hill farming demonstrated the challenging operating environment, an period of depressed livestock prices, at the time when agricultural support payments were decoupled from production (2005). These policy and economic realities led to significant rationalisation of the national sheep flock, with significant consequences for employed shepherds and communities where they lived. A section on the potential environmental impacts arising from the changes looked at how reduced sheep grazing pressures may provide positive environmental outcomes in some localities and negative outcomes in others.