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The Scottish Rural Development Plan

Rural Priorities

Dumfries and Galloway Standard April 2008

Well it has finally arrived, the long awaited Scottish Rural Development Plan and the associated Rural Development Contracts - Rural Priorities are available for everyone to see. 

That is, if your internet is working and if you can work the internet! The fact that this is to be an on-line system only is heralding in a new age where farmers and land managers will be expected to make proposals and claims via the internet with a minimum of paper passing to and fro.

But, I fear that farmhouses that contain farmers with adequate computer skills and an internet connection to match might be rarer than many of the endangered wee beasties that are mentioned in our Local Biodiversity Action Plan.  The LBAP is a list of species and habitats in Dumfries and Galloway that many of the new Rural Priorities are seeking to protect.  But unlike the great crested newt or the pearl bordered fritillary no one will give a toss if any hapless farmer that fails to adapt, to the changes in his environment, falls by the wayside.  

“I wouldn’t know how to turn on a computer” is the normal cry that this particular sub-species makes while they are marking out their territory.  They can often be spotted, during the summer months, at the same annually used locations.  They huddle together at these sites, under canvas, in groups of two or more, chattering endlessly whilst feeding voraciously on the ample supplies of the nectar that is provided. The types that are generally wary of computers are easily distinguished within the mix of his species by the grey hair at their temples which is often associated with a bald patch on top of their heads.  I have, on numerous occasions, managed to blend in unnoticed in order to observe this particular group.

The shame is that the dreaded computer and the internet, that seems to frighten them so much, are so simple nowadays that few of these hard bitten souls would fail to get to grips with it, if only they would give it a go.  All that would be needed would be a little perseverance and perhaps just a guiding hand from a twelve year old to enable every farmer to take better control of the new on-line funding system that has been brought in with the SRDP.

The Rural Development Contracts - Rural Priorities funding mechanism went live on the internet on the seventh of April and my first thoughts are that everyone in the IT department that helped to give birth to this baby should stand up and take a bow.  The screens are well laid out and the navigation is simple. Suffice to say, I think that the system itself is just wonderful. I will however, reserve judgment on the content of the options until I’ve had more time to study them.  

The range of packages and the options that can be taken are many and varied but you soon get them narrowed down to the ones that are applicable to your own circumstances.  For me and my upland farm here in the Luce Valley the Biodiversity range of options look most attractive.  These are the options that seek to enhance the natural environment in order to help wildlife.  I have browsed through the options that are available and while I was doing this, ideas have come to mind about bits on my farm that might easily lend themselves to the needs of the scheme. This is where I feel that those farmers that choose to take on the process themselves are more likely to come up with a winning scheme rather than those who get a consultant to do it for them.

A consultant will know the list of packages and the options that are available, inside out, upside down and back to front; they will also have the internet skills to whiz round the web-based options at lightening speed.  However, what they will struggle to do effectively is to acquire a farmer’s lifetime knowledge of a particular piece of land by having a quick spin round the farm in a Landrover, particularly if you happen to have a sprawling hill or upland farm that has many different areas of habitat and species.  An earlier experience with a similar scheme has led me to come to this conclusion.

About fifteen years ago I entered some of my land into an Environmentally Sensitive Area scheme (ESA).  This was a plan to implement a range of measures in order to help protect wildlife and a range of habitats on the farm drawn up for me by my local consultant.  My scheme would be one of dozens that he would do at that time.  Don’t get me wrong the man did a sterling job the scheme ticked all of the boxes and he secured much needed funding for my business.   But, you know, in all these years, although I have done my best to meet the criteria of the scheme, I don’t believe I have ever really took ownership of it in my own mind.  I still regard the management options in the scheme as being something that was imposed on me by someone else.

I think that this is where the new on-line system, the Rural Development Contracts - Rural Priorities, will make a difference and it is the ease of the application process that will make it possible. It will place the farmer in control right from the start by allowing him to pick the options off the shelf that suit his farm and his practices.  He will know what has the best chance of working on his farm and because it is something that he has managed to create from his personal knowledge of his land and his environment he will take ownership of it and therefore will be anxious to ensure that it is successful.  Personally, I am genuinely excited about the potential that this new system has to offer and I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

On a sadder note and in case anyone should think that all this environmental stuff is a waste of money.  I am still awaiting the return of even a single pair of Lapwings this spring.  They used to appear in large numbers at this time of year but alas I think, this year, I have waited in vain.  I don’t think they are going to come now.  The summer won’t be the same for me or for the people that walk the Southern Upland Way without their distinctive cry and their aerial acrobatics to entertain us.  Predictably, the murderous black vermin that used to harass the poor Lapwings all summer haven’t turned up either in their usual large numbers.  They will have moved on to richer pickings elsewhere.  I won’t miss them at all.