Farmers tell The Herald they are 'scraping to pay the bills' as they call on the Scottish Government for more funding ahead of the budget next week.
After her husband died, Moria Stewart took over running their farm in Scotland.
She has a son who she hopes will take on the farm, however, she is worried about his future in the business as she said farms are struggling to make profits.
“We are scraping to pay the bills and keep the banks happy. I do worry and I have a daughter who is married to a dairy farmer, she has three sons and it’s hard,” Ms Stewart said.
Ms Stewart wants the Scottish Government to prioritise farming funding in their budget next week.
“We are calling for proper funding,” the farmer said: “If they want us to be able to do our jobs and do the environmental calls as well, we need money.
“The rural sector depends on farming and farmers are at the apex of the food industry and rural community. Scotland is mainly rural and we need farmers.
“Farming needs funding and we need to get paid for producing food. A lot of farmers do side businesses like B&Bs to support paying the farm bills and diversification is helping keep food subsidised.”
Roy Brown, is a farmer from East Lothian. He has a mixed farm with cattle and sheep and he also grows crops.
For the past few years, Mr Brown has said his farm has not been profitable and young people do not want to work in the industry.
“If we want to keep food on our shelves, we need everyone to back Scottish agriculture,” the farmer said, “Agriculture has been struggling with profits for a number of years and we need money to meet the challenges which are coming our way.
“To meet climate change, biodiversity targets. We can’t do it with nothing. We need the money to implement these things. We need funding to make the business profitable and meet the challenges coming our way.”
“Also, a lot of businesses rely on us so for me it’s a no brainer - invest in agriculture.”
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Mr Brown also raised concerns over the UK government's changes to the agricultural relief on inheritance tax. Today, John Swinney described the change from the Labour party “cruel” today and he is “deeply troubled” by the change as he said this would be "catastrophic" for family farms.
The farmer said: “The whole inheritance tax is still an issue and it’s good to know the Scottish Government is on our side."
However, Mr Brown believes the Scottish Government could also make life easier for farmers like him. He said: “The Scottish Government need to up our budget going forward.
"The whole budget for the country has gone up by 8% so we are asking for our share to keep the countryside and local communities vibrant.”
Moira and Roy joined hundreds of farmers who rallied outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh yesterday calling for more funding from the Scottish Government.
Their calls, spearheaded by the National Farmers Union, come ahead of the Scottish Budget which will be announced next Thursday.
The NFU Scotland wants the Scottish Government to increase the agricultural budget for farmers by £50m to £776m. It is also urging the Scottish government to make funding commitments across a number of years.
During First Minister’s Questions today, John Swinney said he has given a “cast-iron” commitment that £46 million pounds previously deferred from agricultural funding will be put into the rural affairs budget from the Scottish Government.
The Rural Affair Secretary Mairi Gougeon has said the Scottish Government is “unequivocal” in their support of farmers and crofters.
Speaking at the rally outside the Scottish Parliament today, however, Ms Gougeon said she was unable to reveal what next week’s budget would have in store for the agricultural sector.
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