DUMFRIESSHIRE FARMER Andrew McCornick has been elected as the new president of NFU Scotland, triumphing in a three-way contest that unseated sitting president Allan Bowie and his fellow vice president Rob Livesey during the union’s AGM in Glasgow this week.
With the old leadership trio broken up, the union’s council then elected Perthshire’s Martin Kennedy and Wigtownshire’s Gary Mitchell as the union’s new vice presidents.
After the election, Mr McCornick commented: “Wow! There are difficult and challenging times ahead but I have been given a mandate by members to represent them – I see the membership as part of the team – and I am honoured to carry their message forward.
“It is a big operation to get our views on the importance of Scottish farming in to the highest places in government – and we have Scotland’s First Minister here today – so let’s get stuck in. We are on a mission to take this industry forward so let’s make it count.”
Nicola Sturgeon was indeed the headline speaker at the event and, backed up by her rural economy minister Fergus Ewing, stayed on to field over a dozen questions from the floor, covering everything from the grand questions of who will decide Scotland’s agricultural policy post-Brexit, to much more specific queries about the tartan industry’s failure to get behind Scottish-produced wool.
On the conference’s first day, Mr Ewing had announced plans to change some of the country’s “Greening” rules, the environmental safeguards that are now part and parcel of claiming farm support from the European Union. Among his concessions to industry complaints that the initial form of Greening was counter-productive, he offered to include hedges as counting more significantly towards farmers’ ‘Ecological Focus Area’ commitments from 2018, and also to bring agro-forestry, supported under the Forestry Grant Scheme, into EFA eligibility.
Ms Sturgeon topped that off with the announcement that Professor Russel Griggs will now chair a group to review the Scottish Government’s approach to greening and make recommendations for a “profitable, sustainable and environmentally friendly industry”.
NFU Scotland’s director of policy, Jonnie Hall, responded: “The union has been pressing for some time for a number of sensible, pragmatic changes to Greening. We have taken Cabinet Secretary Fergus Ewing on farm to show him the problems that Greening can cause for Scottish farmers and how we can have a more practical approach that delivers for both farmers and the environment.
"We welcome the announcement from Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at our AGM today that there is to be a review of Greening and we look forward to engaging fully with Professor Russell Griggs when that work commences,” he said.
“The announcement on changes to 2018 Greening rules is a step in the right direction and we will be working with Scottish Government officials on implementing these while still seeking further valuable improvements for future scheme years.”
For in-depth news and views on Scottish agriculture, see this Friday’s issue of The Scottish Farmer or visit www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk
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