Academic Advisory Panel – ENRA research programme strategy and SNAP3 : advisory note

Items and actions

Introduction

Scotland’s agriculture and wider land‑based sectors are increasingly affected by climate change, with impacts such as wetter winters, drought, water scarcity, heat stress, marine warming, and rising pest and disease pressures already material and intensifying. The Scottish National Adaptation Plan (SNAP3) draws on the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment to position agriculture as both highly climate‑exposed and a key delivery partner for adaptation, emphasising nature‑based solutions, coordinated landscape‑scale action, targeted support for farmers, and innovation in adaptation technologies and practices.

Alongside the  Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024, which reforms agricultural support to create a fairer, greener rural economy, and the Vision for Agriculture, which aims to enable sustainable and regenerative food production, SNAP sets out actions for building resilience.

To underpin this transition, the Scottish Government continues to invest in innovation and evidence through the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (ENRA)Research Programme (ENRA RP). The 2027–32 ENRA Research Strategy places climate adaptation at its core, directing research toward adaptive land and water management, ecosystem restoration, resilient food systems, and improved plant and animal health, with Missions, Challenges, and Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) linking scientific priorities directly to policy needs to ensure high‑impact, actionable outcomes.

The Academic Advisory Panel (AAP) was invited to comment on how well aligned the ENRA Research Programme (2027-32) is with policy measures and SNAP 3 objectives for agriculture, identifying gaps, and areas requiring further attention.

Executive Summary

Scotland’s future agricultural policy and research framework must ensure strong alignment between research priorities, policy delivery, and the practical needs of the agricultural sector. Greater clarity is required on the specific research questions to be supported through the ENRA Research Programme and how these relate to Agricultural Research and Innovation priorities and SNAP 3 objectives. Research programmes should remain flexible and support collaboration between policymakers and researchers, while recognising that research provides evidence to inform policy rather than directly delivering socioeconomic outcomes.

Current agri-environment and climate scheme payment rates no longer reflect the costs faced by producers and risk limiting participation and landscape-scale delivery. Updating these rates is essential, alongside exploring stronger financial participation from sectors that benefit from improved land management, such as water utilities and food and drink industries.

Climate change presents both risks and opportunities for Scottish agriculture. Diversification into new crops and production systems could strengthen resilience and create new economic opportunities, but progress is constrained by limited domestic processing capacity and underdeveloped supply chains. Strategic investment and clearer policy support will therefore be necessary to enable adoption.

A whole-system approach to agricultural transition is required. This should integrate food security, supply-chain resilience, workforce transition, and geopolitical risks to ensure Scotland’s agricultural system remains productive, competitive, and resilient in an increasingly uncertain global environment.

AAP recommends:

Research Design

• clarify ENRA RP research priorities, scope, and budget allocations early to ensure research questions are feasible and aligned with SNAP 3 agricultural objectives
• maintain flexibility in research programme design, enabling co-development between policymakers and researchers and avoiding overly prescriptive structures while recognising the need for stable funding during programme delivery
• recognise the need for basic research within the ENRA RP to underpin and develop the tools required for delivering long term innovations

Sector Alignment and Knowledge Exchange

• ensure ARIs reflect the needs of the wider agricultural sector, including producers, land managers, and supply-chain actors, alongside government policy priorities
• strengthen knowledge exchange systems, including farmer-led networks, on-farm trials, Living Labs, and improve links between research institutes, advisory services, and producers
• recognise evolving private-sector sustainability standards and ensure research programmes help Scottish agriculture anticipate and respond to changing market requirements

Finance and Incentives

• update agri-environmental and climate scheme payment rates to reflect current costs and enable meaningful participation and landscape-scale delivery
• encourage financial contributions from beneficiary sectors that benefit from improved land management
• support agricultural diversification and climate adaptation by investing in domestic processing capacity and supply-chain infrastructure for emerging crops and products

Transition and Resilience

• adopt a whole-system approach to agricultural transition, addressing supply chains, labour transitions, food security, and interactions between crop and livestock systems
• integrate geopolitical risks and global supply-chain shocks into agricultural resilience planning, ensuring Scotland’s food system remains robust under future uncertainty

Key discussion points

Research–Policy Alignment and Programme Design

• clarity is needed on which specific research questions will be taken forward in the ENRA RP, and how they map directly onto policy measures. The programme’s suitability to support alignment with SNAP 3 objectives for agriculture can only be determined once the budget is confirmed and decisions are made about which questions are researchable within available resources
• greater clarity on how the ARIs support key stakeholders beyond government, including producers, land managers, and industry innovators is required. While the ARIs appear broadly aligned with policy needs, the strong emphasis on policy delivery can obscure how the priorities of these groups are addressed within the framework

Industry sustainability standards are evolving rapidly. Farmers in sectors such as malt barley, dairy, and beef are increasingly required to meet international standards now common across supply chains. Similar expectations are emerging through the Scottish Food & Drink Net Zero Partnership. A stronger understanding of this fast‑moving private‑sector conditionality is essential, as many producers remain unprepared for these shifts. Although the ARIs appear primarily government‑focused, they also have an important role in helping industry future‑proof itself against tightening market requirements.

• applying strict Theory of Change to ARIs is challenging because broad thematic priorities often translate into detailed research questions that do not map neatly onto outcomes such as rural job creation or economic growth. Research can generate high-quality evidence, tools and policy-relevant insights, but it cannot credibly guarantee specific socioeconomic impacts at the level of individual projects. Long-term outcomes, such as increased rural employment, should therefore not be treated as direct deliverables of research programmes, particularly in the social sciences
• to remain effective under shifting priorities, the research programme should retain flexibility and support co-design between researchers and policymakers. Overly prescriptive, policy-designed research structures risk becoming misaligned as ministerial priorities and policy teams change. Allowing space for proactive research, rather than only reactive responses to short-term policy demands, is essential to maintain long-term impact

Payment Rates and Scheme Delivery

• to enable meaningful, landscape-scale delivery of agri-environmental and climate schemes, payment rates need to be updated. Current rates have remained largely unchanged for more than a decade and are no longer sufficient to incentivise participation, with many farmers now facing net costs to join schemes. Updating these rates is essential, alongside stronger engagement from beneficiary sectors, such as water companies and the whisky industry, which stand to benefit from improved upstream land management

Climate Opportunities, Diversification, and Enablers

• climate change brings significant threats, but it also generates new production opportunities that should be explored within future adaptation and innovation planning

Climate change is already shifting the geographic range of both pests and crops. Although the northward movement of pests and diseases poses challenges, warming conditions may also enable the cultivation of new crop and livestock species and varieties/breeds. Evidence from Northern Ireland suggests that elevated CO₂ concentrations in wet, humid conditions can enhance photosynthesis, offsetting some negative climate impacts. These changes could expand options for pasture species, alternative crops, and new products, strengthening diversification and resilience within Scottish agriculture.

However, adoption of novel crops and livestock remains constrained by limited markets and supply-chain capacity. Without local processing infrastructure, producers face high transport costs and emissions, and many who previously trialled crops such as hemp have withdrawn due to the lack of reliable processing facilities. Strategic investment in domestic processing and supply-chain infrastructure will therefore be essential to support diversification and enable agricultural transition.

Such investment may require accepting higher levels of financial risk, but it is necessary for building a resilient and future-focused agricultural system. Redirecting funding currently benefitting businesses outside Scotland toward domestic processing capacity could strengthen local supply chains. Progress is also constrained by uneven policy support: while the red-meat sector has relatively accessible funding, novel crops receive far less support despite strong alignment with national policy objectives. Dedicated funding streams and clearer policy backing will be needed to unlock the potential of emerging supply chains.

Knowledge and Advisory System

Strong knowledge‑sharing networks are essential for accelerating innovation and best practice across Scottish agriculture. Programmes such as the Sustainable Farm Networks, a UK‑wide, farmer‑led programme of on‑farm trials, demonstrate the value of peer-to-peer learning and rapid dissemination of practical evidence.

Significant research is also underway across institutes on novel crops, with potential industrial uses such as oil, fibre, and food production, alongside soil‑health benefits. Scotland has growing potential to adopt novel crops such as hemp, camelina, legumes and other arable options, but farmers need clearer evidence of profitability and scalability. Building on these existing networks and collaborations, including Living Labs that enable real‑world demonstration, will be critical to ensure research, advisory services, and farmer‑to‑farmer learning remain closely integrated.

Whole System Approach and Trade-offs

• adaptation planning must consider not only direct climate impacts but also indirect risks to supply chains, including disruptions to market access. A narrow focus on farm-level measures risks overlooking wider system vulnerabilities. Effective adaptation requires understanding both the capacity and willingness of farmers and supply chains to adjust practices, supported by strong knowledge exchange, confidence-building, and advisory services rather than relying solely on the promotion of specific technical measures
• there is a need for more open discussion of the trade-offs involved in agricultural transition. While initiatives such as the Small Producers Pilot under the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS) recognise the importance of supporting rural communities, policy debates often remain narrowly focused. Greater attention should be given to upstream and downstream supply-chain impacts, as well as the broader climate, biodiversity, economic, and community trade-offs involved. Communicating these trade-offs more clearly will help stakeholders understand the rationale behind decisions and counter misinformation, supporting a fair and managed transition
• scotland should adopt an explicit transition strategy for the agricultural workforce, recognising that climate mitigation and adaptation will require difficult decisions and that not all current farmers will remain in the sector. Government should develop a structured approach that includes planned exit pathways and dignified retirement options, support for alternative land-management roles where appropriate, and a clear long-term vision for how Scotland’s land resources will be used
• food security must remain central to agricultural and adaptation planning. Less than half of the food consumed in the UK is produced domestically, creating a structural vulnerability. Maintaining and strengthening domestic production must therefore remain a priority alongside climate and biodiversity objectives, particularly in the context of ongoing global uncertainty
• crop and livestock systems must be considered together. Changes such as converting grassland to arable production can have knock-on effects, including relocating livestock to areas with less experience in disease management. Grassland–soil interactions are often overlooked in debates that focus primarily on genetics, methane emissions, or disease control, highlighting the need for a coordinated national perspective that integrates land-based, arable, and livestock systems

Diversification into crops such as hemp and legumes could strengthen food-system resilience and support national food security. However, these opportunities must sit within a broader climate and economic strategy, linking agricultural innovation with wider priorities such as rural housing, green industrial transformation, and construction-sector innovation.

Geopolitics and System Resilience

• geopolitical risks should be considered alongside climate-related opportunities and challenges. Recent conflict-driven disruptions to energy and fuel supplies demonstrate how global instability can significantly affect Scotland’s agricultural resilience and should be explicitly incorporated into adaptation planning

Climate-driven opportunities may appear promising under stable conditions, but they must be assessed within a wider risk framework that includes international trade dynamics, energy-price volatility, and global supply-chain shocks. Strengthening resilience therefore requires a broader systems perspective and a cross-sectoral, national-level approach capable of responding flexibly to emerging risks.

User-centred partnerships that integrate research and innovation processes in practical, real-world settings, such as communities or on farms.