Examination of Witnesses (Questions 360
- 362)
WEDNESDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2007
Mr Dai Davies, Mrs Mary James, Dr Nicholas Fenwick,
Mr Derek Morgan and Mr Andy Robertson
Q360 Chairman:
If I may say so, the thing about that statistic is that it has
not changed for 30 years.
Mr Robertson: Some of us will get there eventually.
The point that Nick makes about profitability is key, but we are
not seeing the same number of young people going into farming.
Profitability is key. Why would they go and work three times as
many hours as their peers for one third of the income? That is
the primary thing that we have to address. No-one is going to
go into an industry unless it is profitable.
Q361 Earl of Arran:
Is it worse than ever before?
Mr Robertson: Yes. The comparison is now much
worse. They see their peers working nine till five, five days
a week for a good income and they are not doing the same. There
are other issues though, and I will briefly touch on them. Education
is one. We need to think very hard about the agricultural education
that is being provided. We need to think much more about getting
more business skills into agricultural education. Ongoing training
and advice, clearly young people will need that kind of support.
Housing is another big issue. We mentioned the planning system
earlier on. So often you find that the father and mother from
a business want to retire, they want to stay on the farm, but
they cannot get planning permission to build a house on the farm
and that in itself is a tension. There is a whole range of issues.
The Scottish Government is also keen to do something to help new
entrants but I have to say that simply throwing money at the problem
will not help.
Q362 Chairman:
Mrs James, you wanted to come back on the commonality.
Mrs James: Yes, I do. I just wanted to say to
Lord Palmer that from our point of view what we are looking for
is uniformity in terms of standards but the mechanisms for delivery
of those standards clearly should be an issue that is devolved
to Member States.
Chairman: Thank you all very much. It
has been a very interesting session. I am sorry I let it drift
on for too long, but there are three organisations, so it was
quite difficult for you all to get your points across, which you
did. Is there anything you feel has not been said that you want
to draw to our attention or has not come out in the evidence to
date? If not, thank you very much for coming.
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