Rural & Agricultural Development: Maximising the potential in the islands of Orkney, Shetland and Outer Hebrides
This report presents findings from a project to assess the potential impacts of forthcoming agricultural and associated policy changes to farming and land use within the areas covered by Orkney Islands Council, Shetland Islands Council, and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (the Outer Hebrides). Orkney Local Action Group, Shetland Local Action Group, Outer Hebrides Local Action Group, Orkney Islands Council, Shetland Islands Council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and Highlands and Islands Enterprise commissioned this project to consider the impacts of this Bill and changes to future direct support payments and rural development support on the economies and communities of these island groups.
The research findings indicate that anticipated policy changes will have significant implications for island economies, environments and communities. By definition, a framework Bill (the focus of the Scottish Government's Island Community Impact Assessment - ICIA - analysis) has no specific implications whereas actual policy measures (the focus of this research) enacted through subsequent secondary legislation will have specific implications. Findings from this study may serve to support future ICIAs of policy proposals contained within, for example, the forthcoming Rural Support Plan, National Islands Plan, and Rural Delivery Plan. ICIA criteria and decision making processes could be clarified.
The implications of anticipated policy changes reflect that, although there are inter-island differences, agriculture accounts for a higher share of private businesses, turnover and employment in island economies than across Scotland as a whole. For example, more than one-in-ten of the workforce across Orkney and Shetland and more than one-in-two across the Western Isles has some working association with agriculture.
Multiplier effects extend this greater relative importance along local supply-chains and into the wider rural economy. Moreover, farming and (in particular) crofting are important aspects of local culture. This highlights how agriculture is inter-twined both economically and culturally with wider island life, but also how important agricultural housing (especially crofts) is to workforce availability and stability (demographic trends across the islands also constrain the workforce). As a result, community led local development (CLLD) - which is vital to cultural and economic vibrancy and merits continued support - is often inextricably linked to both land managers and land management.
Equally, island areas contain a high proportion of environmental designations and priority habitats (e.g. Machair, peatlands) and species (e.g. wading birds, corncrakes, hen harriers), reflecting an abundance of valued natural capital largely created and maintained through High Nature Value (low intensity) land management. Hence what happens to farming and crofting matters economically, environmentally and socially in the three island areas.
Agricultural activities across the islands are constrained by multiple factors. In particular, imperfect digital and transport connectivity imposes additional costs (including unreliability). For example, with respect to purchased inputs such as feed and fertiliser needed to compensate for poorer quality land and shorter growing seasons. The absence of specific policy proposals with respect to the Less Favoured Areas is a significant concern, as are the inapplicability of some proposed measures (e.g. woodland creation) and the vagueness of some other definitions (e.g. livestock breeding).
The prevalence of crofting across the islands also means that policy proposals will impose disproportionate overhead compliance costs (e.g. for Whole Farm Plans) upon large numbers of smaller producers, which will discourage enrolment. Similarly, the additional costs of collective management of common grazings will also discourage enrolment. In both cases, this implies a loss of potential funding for the islands (something that is already apparent under current policies) and a loss of policy leverage over large areas of land. This could be addressed through a ‘light touch’ scheme for small producers and/or a more general redistribution to increase payment rates on the first few hectares of each business plus explicit funding (or direct staffing support) for collective management of common grazings.
