Having had a quick look at some possible reasons why the Small Farm Grant scheme has not been a success, the next step is to look at what smallholders actually need and want by way of support.
This is a great opportunity to influence the future of smallholding in Scotland so it's worth a bit of effort to think clearly. There is some money available out there, but not in free-flowing amounts, so if it's headed in our direction surely we should know what we want to do with it? Rather than just modifying the existing Small Farm Grant Scheme by extending the hectarage it applies to, lets go back to fundamentals and find out what we really want.
Do we want buildings? Is that the first area we think of when looking for support? Or do we want more support for what we as smallholders actually do? There are endless possible smallholding activities such as growing vegetables, raising crops and livestock, selling produce, camp sites, B&B, working to improve our environment and supporting wildlife in all its forms - any and all of these activities have a valuable output and are worthy of government support.
One thing smallholders do so well is keeping rare breeds of livestock. Larger farmers are likely to prefer modern commercial breeds which can make them a profit, whereas many smallholders are working on a smaller scale, where they are free to pick and choose their livestock, taking into consideration their local land and market conditions, taste of the meat, aesthetics, conservation, future proofing genetic variance and supplying small quantities to specialist customers. All these things are likely to be more labour intensive than similar commercial scale alternatives, so will cost more, both in the doing and in the marketing. Sometimes it seems that the preservation of our rare breeds is being left to the whims and altruism of smallholders, who are already severely disadvantaged.
It's worth reiterating: our rare breeds are a reservoir of genetic variation which needs be preserved so that, as the world climate changes, people's eating preferences change and farming practices necessarily change, there is a pool of genetics to pick from to create new breeds which can thrive in the new conditions and markets of the future. Many of the new commercial breeds fare very well today, but when all changes tomorrow they themselves could well become rare and we will be seeking new breeds which are perhaps more self sufficient, lower input of feed and labour, smaller carcases for changes in human eating habits, multi-purpose and beautiful when the countryside becomes Theme Park Scotland and if folk don't like what they see then it has to go. Thus the importance of preserving rare breeds, not just for smallholders but for the whole population. That sounds like your criteria 'for the common good'.
Britain used to get support for keeping rare breeds from the EU, in common with all other EU countries. However, the last female PM traded that subsidy for a big rebate and thus our subsidy was lost. It would be great to have rare breed support back, but I think you, Rosemary, may be the only person who can get that message to where it will be heard.
I appreciate that not all smallholders keep rare breeds, but I can only speak of what I know and a rare breed subsidy is one point only.
Whatever subsidies we do get, they need to be simple and straightforward to administer (agriculture is still reeling from the farce of EU subsidy payments). Subsidies also need to be simple and straightforward to apply for - that applies to both large farmers and smallholders as no-one has time to waste on inefficient systems.