News

Many of Scotland's farmers are changing the way they farm, to allow nature back and to reduce climate emissions. They are the trailblazers, and what they are doing matters to us all.

Research has estimated that in excess of a quarter of all species on Earth exist in soils. Ranging from tiny bacteria to large burrowing earthworms, this ‘underground livestock’ needs to remain biodiverse.

Healthy soils of species-rich grasslands are full of abundance and diversity of microbes, mycorrhizal fungi and invertebrates, such as earthworms, that facilitate greater carbon sequestration and storage.

While financial support for food producers in the transition is critical, support for farmers to meet, learn from each other, share advice and work in partnership, is just as essential. We need peer-to-peer knowledge exchange that supports farmers to try out new things. 

We need food. We need farmers. We need farmers to keep farming and managing the land. Let’s just get that out there straight away. This needs to be said because food production is often pitted against environmental recovery. But these things don’t oppose each other, we need both.

The way we fund our farms is making climate change worse and risks our food security, according to a significant new report - which campaigners say makes the case for a radical approach to the upcoming Agriculture Bill.

We still have flower-rich machair grasslands, and the abundance of species they support, today thanks to 5,500 years of non-intensive farming without the use of pesticides. We need a farm funding system that helps more farmers create wildflower-rich habitats.