Nature Friendly Farming Network Summit: Ministerial speech

Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to speak at this year’s Nature Friendly Farming Network Summit.

It’s a pleasure to be with you in person and there’s nothing I like better than being among good folk doing great work to help us achieve the aims of tackling climate change and biodiversity loss.

The Scottish Government is committed to taking action to support climate and nature and doing so in a way which supports sustainable food production and thriving rural communities.

Nature-friendly farming is central to our strategic approach to sustainable food production and tackling the nature and climate crises.

Many of you are already contributing to our climate and nature ambitions by increasing efficiencies in food production, and sequestering carbon, whether through tree and hedge planting, peatland restoration, or broader nature restoration efforts.

We want to work with you to see these efforts scaled up across the sector as we work towards our vision of becoming a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

Through initiatives like the Integrating Trees Network, which is one of my favourite things I’d like to see more of, and the Farm Advisory Service, our aim is to support farmers and crofters to build the skills and knowledge needed to integrate wider land management activities into their farming enterprises, and to benefit from them.

As we roll out our new agricultural support framework in phases, we are trying to embed sustainability and biodiversity at the heart of farming.

New conditionality such as the Whole Farm Plan, which includes biodiversity audits and soil health analysis, that helps land managers to identify and adopt regenerative practices that restore ecosystems and build climate resilience.

These efforts directly support our Biodiversity Strategy goals: Nature Positive by 2030, and nature restored by 2045.

From 2026 enhanced greening will be rolled out across approximately 6000 farms in Scotland, an additional 2300 businesses and 6300 Ha in comparison with 2024 – ensuring more producers are delivering for nature and climate.

This marks another step on our journey – enhanced greening is a short-term practical way in which we are incentivising and supporting agricultural businesses to undertake the practices and actions that actively improve nature and climate outcomes.

We will shortly publish a draft Climate Change Plan, setting out our policies and proposals to support all farmers and crofters in reducing emissions, contributing to our national net zero goal, continuing to produce high-quality food, and enhancing biodiversity.

We can only reach our climate targets by working with rural communities to find solutions.

I want to acknowledge the vital role that NFFN and its members play in shaping agricultural policy.

Your contributions are deeply valued, and, along with the Cabinet Secretary, I was delighted to welcome Denise Walton to her first meeting as a member of the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board in May, as well as our recently formed National Biodiversity Forum.

And I can assure you, there is no fear of Denise holding back, she has already made her mark. So I want to make clear that this partnership approach will be driven at pace in the months ahead to deliver the answers that I know our producers need to hear about the fundamentals of our new support system.

We will work with renewed and vigorous determination, alongside the Agriculture Policy Development Group and other partners – to provide further clarity for those who do so much to help feed our nation and steward our countryside.

In addition, we will be carefully considering future budget allocations and how these could be used to maximise positive progress for climate, nature and sustainable food production.

We have a budget process which you would not expect me to pre-empt, I’m sure, but my assurance to you is simple – we are open to exploring how future allocations to AECS and Tier 2 could strengthen our support for nature and climate outcomes, and will listen to those views and ideas.

The Agricultural Reform Programme was established to support the Scottish Government’s ambition of transforming agricultural support to deliver the Vision for Agriculture.

We have maintained reformed direct payments and we are supporting producers to deliver high-quality food production. Future agricultural support will see increased conditions to better incentivise sustainable and regenerative practice, on-farm nature restoration and climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.

We will support farmers and crofters to keep producing food but doing so in a sustainable way.

The Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 is fundamental to delivering a sustainable, regenerative and profitable future for Scotland’s famers and crofters, and a preliminary version of the Code of Practice on Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture has been published.  

The Code is a best practice guide available to all to help inform business decisions by providing guidance on different actions or measures which will help contribute to sustainable and regenerative practices.

Through the Future Farming Investment Scheme, we are backing practical, nature-positive action on farms and crofts across Scotland.

Investments through FFIS will mean more native hedge and tree planting, herbal leys and wildflower mixes, ponds and riparian fencing, restored dykes and low-impact bracken control all creating space for nature and supporting productive farming.

This support will help stitch habitats back together, protect soils and clean our water.

This is public money for public good in action: farmer- and crofter-led change that will shape the future of Scottish agriculture — where thriving nature and thriving rural businesses go hand in hand.

The Agri-Environment Climate Scheme is a cornerstone of our support to farmers and crofters to deliver for nature and their business sustainability.

I can confirm that we expect it to run until at least 2030 as we transition our support. 

I can also confirm that the next round of the AECS will open for applications in early 2026.

We will continually seek to improve the scheme and the benefits it delivers, and this includes reviewing the options available.

We want to encourage farmers and crofters to apply, and hope that these announcements, and a record approval rate achieved in recent years, give confidence that we remain committed to supporting Scotland’s land managers in restoring nature and tackling climate change.

I am also pleased to announce today that we are providing an additional £1 million in forestry grants.

This will help farmers and crofters to create more small-scale woodland projects of up to 20 hectares and integrate trees into their business plans.

It is right that we support and invest in our smaller producers as small producers and for the unique benefits that only they bring.

Crofters and small producers’ matter. They play a key role in delivering for nature, climate, thriving communities and sustainable food production - in recognition of this, I am delighted to announce that this year we intend to make up to £500,000 of capital available for small producer pilot related activities. More details on this will be coming but I wanted to share this information with you today.

Through the passage of the ARC Act, we heard clearly that area-based support doesn’t work for small producers. That’s why we continue to back our crofters and small producers in ways that better enables their unique role in delivering the Vision especially in building thriving rural communities.

As you may already be aware, this year the Scottish Government has committed a further £1 million in resource funding to directly support and strengthen resilience by providing:

Up to £200,000 in resource funding will be available via the Small Producers Practical Training Fund later this year. This will support small producers and crofters entering the agricultural sector through hands-on training in farming, alongside essential skills in business, sustainability, and health and safety.

This also includes exploring solutions to challenges around abattoirs and access to private kill services. That said, we have already received applications from Shott, Wishaw, Mull, and Stornoway to support their private kill services helping to maintain vital support for Scotland’s small producers.

We’re providing an additional £55,000 to demonstrate the Scottish Government’s continued support for the Scottish Smallholder Festival. Why this is matter – it’s a unique event showcasing livestock, rural skills, and handcraft competitions. It offers education, demonstrations, and inspiration for both new entrants to agriculture and experienced smallholders looking to expand their knowledge.

In addition, I’m also pleased to confirm an additional £55,000 in funding for the Small Producers Info Hub to support ongoing website maintenance. Funded by the SG and developed by Nourish Scotland and piloted with small producers, the Hub was identified by the SPPF Steering Group as a key solution. It offers an accessible, one-stop shop for small producers to find the information they need to manage and grow their businesses.

Going forward we will ensure dedicated support for our small producers and how we can make support across the tiers more accessible.

We also continue to work closely with NatureScot on their Farming with Nature programme to trial new approaches to measuring and enhancing biodiversity at a field, farm and landscape level.

This work is co-developed with farmers and crofters to test user-friendly approaches to integrating nature and climate actions.

Let me be clear: nature-friendly farming is a crucial part of Scotland’s future which will further strengthen our track record of high-quality produce.

We want to see more farmers and crofters adopt these approaches and we will support them in doing so.

This is the direction of travel, towards a sector that is productive, resilient, and regenerative.

We are committed to seeing nature-friendly farming go from strength to strength.

Thank you for your leadership, your innovation, and your commitment. I look forward to the outcomes of this summit and to continuing our work together to build a nature-positive Scotland.