Land access a critical barrier for new farmers in Scotland

"The report focuses on new and alternative ways to encourage farmers and landowners to increase the availability of land for new entrants to agriculture in Scotland"

Land access issues, including limited availability of tenancies, are a critical barrier for new entrants to agriculture in Scotland, according to a new report commissioned by the Scottish Land Commission and authored by James Hutton Institute scientists.

The report, written by social researchers Annie McKee, Lee-Ann Sutherland, Jonathan Hopkins and Sharon Flanigan of the Institute’s Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences group in Aberdeen, along with Alison Rickett of Fresh Start Land Enterprise Centre, focuses on new and alternative ways to encourage farmers and landowners to increase the availability of land for new entrants to agriculture in Scotland.

In conjunction with the Scottish Land Commission, the authors explore several models for increasing land access, covering the following aspects:

• Experience and understanding of joint venture options, including contract farming, partnerships, share farming and agricultural tenancies, as well as leasing/licensing
• Potential tax interventions to increase land availability for new entrants
• Experiences of land matching services to increase land availability
• The development of new farming business incubators.

The report focuses on the need to address the balance of risk and reward on the part of existing farmers/landowners when implementing the models, the profitability of new entrant farming businesses, and the need for trust and relationship building in the development of joint ventures.

The publication of the report will be followed by a series of workshops organised by NFUS and Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service. Further details on these workshops will be made available on the Scottish Land Commission’s website.

The report, titled Increasing the Availability of Farmland for New Entrants to Agriculture in Scotland, is available to download at https://landcommission.gov.scot/publications-consultations-research/research/.