The Royal Highland Show has been a landmark event in Scotland’s farming calendar for generations, but this year’s date will underline that a whole year has passed since the Brexit vote and highlight how much nothing – yet everything – has changed in the last 12 months.
Millions of words have been written (by me alone) on the implications of the referendum, and yet we still don’t have the faintest idea of how farming will need to adapt to life beyond our departure from the Common Agricultural Policy or – possibly – the Single Market.
It’s unlikely that many of the near 200,000 visitors who will flood through the turnstiles over the four-day event will be there to listen to the pontifications of politicians, pundits and industry leaders, but the show’s sharp spotlight on Scottish farming will inevitably bring significant announcements and repeated demands for a blueprint the industry can begin to follow.
Rural Secretary Fergus Ewing is scheduled to speak at the show’s launch breakfast, and he’s unlikely to receive the same warm welcome he was shown in his new role last year. Audit Scotland’s catalogue of continuing IT programme failings and this week’s revelation that there is still no back-up in the event of a computer breakdown has resulted in an upsurge of anger and frustration among farmers. The prediction that it will be another year and an extra £33m of taxpayer funding before the programme is fixed has not gone down well and Mr Ewing will face uncomfortable questions.
And there is still no confirmation that Westminster’s new Environment Secretary, Michael Gove will make an appearance to address the industry on Friday morning. If he does, it might give some clue as to whether his appointment will prove to be good news for farmers. There is no evidence he knows anything about agriculture, but then it is a long time since that was a prerequisite for the job, and it’s unlikely he can be worse than recent incumbents, Andrea Leadsom and Liz Truss.
All we know for now is that Mr Gove is a committed Brexiteer and the Conservatives have guaranteed that direct support will continue to the industry until 2022, which is great – if the Government lasts that long. The Highland Show would be a perfect opportunity for Defra to share a little more of its thinking.
As usual I’ll spend much of Highland Show week at press conferences. But for most farmers the event will be about standing at ringsides watching the judging, salivating over new machinery, socialising and taking a walk down the livestock lines. For exhibitors it will be about the prospect of glory, a big shiny trophy and a share of the £180,000 prize money.
And the general public? They’ll get the chance to discover the impressive scope of twenty first century agriculture and to taste and take home some of the fabulous range of food produced by thousands of committed Scottish farmers.
Have a great show.
nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk
