Sustainable and regenerative farming - next steps

The Scottish Government published its Vision for Scottish Agriculture which sets out plans for Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

The Vision statement outlines a new support framework which will aim to deliver:

• high quality food production
• climate mitigation, adaptation, and nature restoration
• support for farmers and crofters to meet Scotland's food needs sustainably.

This commitment will sit at the heart of a framework to underpin Scotland's future agriculture support regime from 2025 onwards.

Scotland is engaged in a range of activity already, including the creation of farm based tools, for example Agrecalc to assess emissions and more recently sequestration at a farm level, through to a whole farm approach to business and environmental improvement, exemplified in the monitor farm and the farming for a better climate programmes.

The document states: "The industry has played a key role in deliberating on and proposing change. Now the farmers and crofters can lead that change. We know that many farmers, crofters and land managers are already farming more sustainably, adopting regenerative agriculture principles and approaches, and using tools such as carbon audits and soil testing to inform practice change. But emissions from agriculture are still too high; we are still not managing to do simple, obvious things – such as improved slurry storage; we do not have a baseline of activity or understanding of who is doing what, when and where; and critically, we are at risk of missing opportunities to tackle the twin emergencies of climate and nature collaboratively that will create green skills, new jobs and industries that benefit farmers, and rural and island communities."

Visit the Scottish Government website for more details.