October 2000

A HUGE MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB

Agriculture is going through tough times just now throughout the EU, but nowhere more so that in the UK, where farmers are suffering their worst recession for almost 100 years. A survey published recently by international accountants Deloitte Touche, found that the average family farm in the UK has suffered a 90% drop in income over the past five years. Average farm incomes last year for a 200 hectare farm are down to (£8000) or around 13000 Euros, catastrophically below the basic minimum wage. This current year, most farms will run at a loss.

Many farmers are now living on their overdrafts and it is only a matter of time before the banks start an avalanche of foreclosures, forcing hundreds into bankruptcy. The problem is, when farmers go bust, they not only lose their jobs and livelihood, they also lose their homes. They tend to move off the land and into council houses in the towns. The trend towards rural depopulation then escalates, as village shops, post offices, banks and eventually schools and doctors" surgeries all close.

Nowhere is there such strong evidence of rural depopulation as in the hill and upland areas of Scotland - particularly the Highlands and Islands. I believe that we may be witnessing the beginning of the new Highland Clearances. The failure of the CAP, together with an unsympathetic approach to rural Britain from Westminster, Holyrood and Brussels, has caused a sharp decline in the economic well-being of these marginal and economically fragile areas. This in turn has led the start of an exodus from the land.

The causes of this accelerating decline are all too familiar. The fuel crisis, highlighted the fact that the UK is now the most expensive place to buy petrol in the entire EU, despite the fact that we are Europe's only oil exporting Member State. However, if fuel is exorbitantly expensive in the towns and cities of Scotland, it is even more expensive in the highlands and islands, only there, people have no alternative to the car.

The fuel crisis coupled to the fact that the mountainous areas of Scotland are remote and difficult to reach, mean that tourism has taken a sharp knock this year as well, further denting the rural economy of these areas. And of course, major reforms of the CAP, de-coupling agricultural subsidies from production, have had their own impact on rural incomes. New hill farming support proposals in Scotland which introduce area-based payments, will benefit the larger farms and massive agri-businesses, but will have a disastrous impact on small farms and crofts who relied on headage payments for their livestock.

Now there are new draft directives in the pipeline from the European Commission which will undermine the viability of the traditional hunting and stalking industries in our mountainous and upland areas. New laws will insist on trained animal pathologists being present at every shoot. No shot game will be allowed to be sold without having been inspected by a qualified animal pathologist and accompanied by a signed certificate which guarantees the game to be free from diseases and from exposure to environmental pollution.

At the same time we have an increasingly hysterical anti-hunting lobby seeking to ban fox hunting and to make inroads on the shooting and fishing lobby. No wonder our rural population feels threatened and beleaguered. Our urban neighbours say they love the mountains and hills and they demand more and more rights of access to them. But in return they acquiesce while these areas are burdened with red tape, bureaucracy, rules, regulations and economic strictures which will serve to depopulate our uplands and leave them as barren wastelands, devoid of people and stripped of the collective memory and unique natural heritage which they boast.

Now we even face the additional problem of EU enlargement. I am wholly in favour of the process of enlarging the European Union. I believe we have a fundamental moral obligation to the people of central and eastern Europe to welcome them back into the European family after their years of oppression under the Soviet and communist systems.

However, we should be under no illusions as to the massive costs that enlargement will entail. The structural funding and subsidies which we have enjoyed for years as Members of the EU will dry up to a trickle as funds drift from the west to the east.

Already, the Highlands and Islands of Scotland has lost Objective 1 status because it narrowly failed to meet the necessary economic and demographic criteria. The temporary funding programme which has been put in place will come to an end in four years' time and frankly, I cannot see any further programme being secured. The precarious economy of the region will therefore suffer further decline, unless new sources of income and employment can be established.

And it is the quest for these new sources of income and employment that we must turn to if we are to find a way out of this un-remitting picture of gloom and despondency. There are many benefits associated with living in the hills, uplands and mountainous areas of Scotland. The unique quality of life, the wonderful and peaceful scenery, the low crime rate and safe, though harsh, environment, are all familiar parts of the package. However, such a package is not sustainable without economic security.

If the traditional sectors of agriculture, forestry and tourism are becoming increasingly precarious, then we must examine the new technologies to see if they can offer a sustainable future. Can the information and communication sectors offer employment to people living in remote parts of the Highlands? Can training in marketing and the creation of producer organisations help to add value to and develop niche markets for traditional upland farm produce and crafts? Can we further develop the tourist industry without overloading the road networks and overburdening the delicate environment?

Holyrood, Westminster and Brussels have a vital role to play in this scenario. Tough political decisions will need to be taken. There must be a clear acceptance that there is an unfair distribution of basic infrastructures in lowland areas, compared to our hills and uplands. There must be an acceptance that there will be major costs to society in securing a reasonable future for our mountainous areas, not least in compensating the upland population for the crucial services they continue to provide by protecting the vital landscape resources and ecosystems.

Only in this way, can we secure a brighter future for the Scottish mountains and uplands - a future which will attract young people who were born and bred in these areas to make their careers and raise their families there and which will even attract new people to move there, in search of that quality of life which only those remote parts of rural Scotland can provide.

CASH AID FOR SCALLOP FISHERMEN

Scotland's hard-pressed scallop fishermen can receive significant cash aid from Brussels, according to a letter I have received from Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler. The scallop fishermen on Scotland's west coast and part of the east coast, have been forced to tie-up their vessels for the past two seasons, due to the presence of Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP) in the scallops. Now Commissioner Fischler has confirmed that "Community aid is available to fishermen forced temporarily to cease their activities in the event of unforseeable circumstances, particularly those caused by biological factors."

Inevitably there is a catch. To receive this cash aid from Brussels, the Scottish Executive must set up a compensation package and match the funding pound for pound. The Lib/Lab Scottish Executive at Holyrood has probably known that such cash aid was available for many months, but has chosen to remain silent on the matter, presumably because they do not want to fork out. However, I have now challenged them to come up with their share of the cash. There can be no room for penny-pinching or back-tracking on this issue. Other Member States are quick to compensate their fishermen if they are forced to tie up for any reason. Massive compensation has been paid to 400 Spanish fishing vessels who have been tied up in port for the past eleven months, unable to fish in their traditional grounds off the coast of Morocco. Now the Scottish Executive must demonstrate their support for our fishermen. If they fail to act the fishermen will know where to lay the blame.