The Scottish Government is committed to realising our Vision for Agriculture and transforming how we support farming and food production in Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.
Recent years have seen a series of global shocks that have had, and are continuing to have, an impact on global food security. These include EU-exit impacts, the COVID-19 pandemic and, most recently, the illegal invasion of Ukraine which is having an undeniable impact on global agriculture and upon all aspects of our domestic food and drink supply chain. This has highlighted the requirement for the new Agriculture Bill to be adaptive in supporting farmers, crofter and land managers in the near, medium and long term future and the proposals outlined below reflect this.
While we deal with the short-term challenges, we need to keep an eye to the long-term and the action needed now to ensure we have a healthy environment and thriving communities for years to come. We are committed to tackling the climate and biodiversity crises and reaching Net Zero by 2045. Our agricultural sector has an indispensable role to play as we address these challenges and we will continue to support these efforts.
We have also published a Plain English Summary Guide and Gaelic translation of the consultation document which is available via the above link.
As well as publishing this consultation paper, we have organised a series of events and workshops to provide the opportunity for you to engage with the proposals contained in this consultation. All are welcome to come along to ask questions, raise issues, and contribute to the discussion.
In support of the consultation, the Scottish Government has announced a series of consultation events that will take place over the next few months.
Face to face events across Scotland, looking at the Agriculture Bill in general (click a location to go to the Eventbrite booking page):
In addition to the in-person events, there will also be four online virtual events focusing on specific themes included in the Bill. The four thematic events will cover:
To get the most out of these events, we recommend that in advance of attending the event, you read through the Agriculture Bill Consultation document.
"Scotland’s farmers, crofters and land-managers are vital to our ambition to make our nation fairer and greener. We should not shy away from being clear that we are on a journey of significant transformation. I urge everyone to take the opportunity to share your views and engage with this process, and please encourage everyone you know to take part as well. I know many of you will have contributed to the Agricultural transition consultation we ran previously, and this consultation builds on those responses. Your responses to this consultation will give us tremendous insight into how best to realise our Vision for Agriculture in a way that works for our rural communities."
Mairi Gougeon
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands
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