Land Use and Rural Policy: Subject Profile

Author: Anna Brand

PDF Published: Thursday 19 Aug 2021 (SB 21-49)

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Overview
Report

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Overview
Report
- Key points
- In figures
- Rural affairs
- Strategic Land Use
  - Fourth National Planning Framework
- Major land uses in Scotland
  - Agriculture
    
    What does the sector look like?
    
    Agricultural tenancies
    
    Tenancies and the 2016 Land Reform Act
    
    Crofting
    
    National Development Plan for Crofting
    
    Agriculture policy
    
    Agriculture policy before Brexit
    
    Agriculture policy after Brexit: A new policy for Scotland
    
    The UK internal market and the EU
    
    The UK internal market
    
    Common frameworks
    
    EU-UK relations
    
    Trade and agriculture
  - Forestry
    
    What does Scottish forestry look like?
    
    Forest policy and governance
    
    Forestry grants
    
    Industry standards
    
    Timber production
    
    Forestry and the environment
    
    Forests and people
  - Hunting and wildlife management
    
    Deer management
    
    Grouse
    
    Hunting with dogs
  - Nature-based Solutions
- Food policy
- Land use and the climate and nature crises
  - Key evidence and sources
    
    International assessments
    
    UK and Scottish reports
- Rural affairs research
- Cover Image credit
Sources

There are around 51,000 farms in Scotland, of which 21,000 are crofts. Forage makes up the largest group with 20,900 holdings, followed by beef and sheep at 17,800, mixed farming at 4,400, cereals at 2,300, pigs and poultry at 1,100, and horticulture and dairy at 700 holdings respectively. Rural Scotland is 98% of the land mass, with accessible rural making up 70% and remote rural 17%. 39% of working occupiers are female, and approximately 10% of farmers are under 41. 80% of Scotland landscape is agricultural land; 44% of which is classed as high nature value farmland. Nature conservation sites cover 18% of Scotland's land area. 22% of Scotland's land is tenanted. 12.5% of Scotland is forested, and 1/3 of these forests are on farms. 74% of Scottish woodlands are made up of conifers, and there are plans to increase Scotland's forests to 21% by 2032. Agriculture accounts for 15.7% of Scotland's greenhouse gas emissions; land use, land use change and forestry accounts for 5.6%.

Image: Figure 1: Scottish land use in numbers

Employment in rural Scotland is diverse. In remote rural Scotland, the public sector is the largest employer at 17%, followed by accommodation and food services, agriculture forestry and fishing and financial and other services at 15% each. In accessible rural Scotland, the public sector and financial and other services are the largest employers at 17% each, followed by agriculture, forestry and fishing, and wholesale, retail and repair at 12% each.

Image: Figure 2: Employment in rural Scotland

Image of a stone house next to a road in rural Scotland.

Image: What does the sector look like?

Farm business incomes vary widely between sectors. For the average Scottish holding, and for all sectors aside from dairy, cereals and general cropping, farms and crofts make a loss without agricultural subsidies.

Image: Figure 3: Farm incomes with and without subsidies

Image of a croft house in front of a hill in rural Scotland.

Image: Figure 4: Types of support under the two ‘pillars’ of the EU Common Agricultural Policy in Scotland. The size of the circle is relative to the proportion of the budget allocated to that type of support.

Image of a woodland in the spring with a carpet of bluebells and daffodils.

Image: What does Scottish forestry look like?

Image: Forestry and the environment

Image of three red deer stags standing in a grassy field with Scottish hills in the background.

Image: Figure 5: Habitats that can provide nature-based solutions

Infographic showing key pressures on nature in Scotland. These are agricultural management, climate change, hydrological change, woodland management, pollution, invasive non-native species, urbanisation, upland management, marine climate change, fisheries.

Image: Figure 6: Key pressures on nature in Scotland

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Scottish Government . (2017, June 23). Women in farming and the agriculture sector: research report. Retrieved from Crofting appears to be somewhat more egalitarian than farming. During the interviews and focus groups with men and women on crofts, they suggested that crofting has always been more equal because the croft depended on offcroft work. Sometimes men would migrate for work for several months and during this time women were responsible for all the decision-making. Women on crofts were more likely to indicate a strong role in decision-making, with 81% indicating that they have a role in both major and day to day decisions. This stronger role of women in decision-making was characteristic of smaller farms in general (see table 4.2c [accessed 13 May 2021]

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Last Updated: 23/1 10:15am

Image: Figure 1: Scottish land use in numbers

Image: Figure 2: Employment in rural Scotland

Image: Rural affairs

Image: What does the sector look like?

Image: Figure 3: Farm incomes with and without subsidies

Image: Crofting

Image: Figure 4: Types of support under the two ‘pillars’ of the EU Common Agricultural Policy in Scotland. The size of the circle is relative to the proportion of the budget allocated to that type of support.

Image: What does Scottish forestry look like?

Image: Timber production

Image: Forestry and the environment

Image: Deer management

Image: Grouse

Image: Figure 5: Habitats that can provide nature-based solutions

Image: Figure 6: Key pressures on nature in Scotland

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