More than 200 politically minded farmers will converge in a hotel on the outskirts of St Andrews today and tomorrow for the annual meeting of Scotland’s farmers’ union.
If there are no elections it can be an unremarkable affair: policy speeches, a convivial dinner for the great and good of Scottish agriculture, and an announcement by the Government minister of the day of a little extra funding and new initiative or two.
There’s quite a bit of mutual back slapping and politicians usually depart with barely a ruffled feather.
That’s because there’s rarely too much to grouse about.
The farming industry and the Scottish Government enjoy a close working relationship and most issues are successfully resolved behind the scenes. It has been a long time since farming politics created any fireworks.
This week will be different.
The industry is beleaguered.
Depressed commodity prices, flooding on farmland, the transition to the new Common Agricultural Policy and, not least, the delay in the payment of subsidies have worn farmers down.
There’s frustration and despair on farms and a heightening of the rhetoric from union headquarters ahead of this week’s meeting.
Into that lion’s den on the Fife coast will step Richard Lochhead.
The Rural Affairs Secretary will concede that the industry is beset by a “perfect storm” of problems and he’ll assure the NFUS leadership that his team is working round the clock to process support payments as quickly as possible, while still adhering to EU rules which forbid him to pay out until compliance checks have been done.
His words are unlikely to cut any ice.
Yet they should, because without the influence of the union, the payments system would have been simpler and undoubtedly much faster.
Yes, the Scottish Government’s computer has failed to be up to the job, but the union’s leadership needs to hold their hands up too, and admit they insisted on the complex, tiered system of payments that is causing the IT system to work at a snail’s pace.
Mr Lochhead is expected to appeal to farmer delegates to look beyond the current challenges and delays.
He’ll aim to raise morale and attempt to persuade the industry to be positive about opportunities and future success.
I wish him well with that.