As livestock farmers, in particular, it is easy to feel embattled. We are often on the receiving end of vegan advocacy. We are being called out as an industry to measure and mitigate our carbon impact, and there seem to be daily news reports about reducing meat consumption to save the planet. Margins are tight, and our regulatory obligations are ever-increasing.

However, farming with livestock can bring significant benefits to the environment. Numbers of Scotland’s iconic farmland wading birds remain in steep decline and collectively are a top conservation priority. Managed grazing and mown grassland, with a few small and inexpensive habitat improvements, such as wader scrapes, can improve the breeding success of our most threatened wader species. These management techniques are crucial in safeguarding our landscapes so that future generations can hear the haunting curlew call or the ‘peewit’ of the lapwing. It is vital that the government, the public and consumers know that livestock-rearing units are valuable for food production and worthy of public support for delivering ecosystem services. None of what the Scottish Government hopes to achieve in terms of nature restoration can be done without the support of farmers. As livestock farmers, we must loudly bang the drum and demonstrate livestock’s irreplaceable role in supporting a thriving environment.

At Kinclune, we recognise nature as one of our farm’s great assets. We have long loved our upland landscape and farmland birds, but in 2020 I contacted the RSPB to find out more. We invited them to survey Kinclune and have been successfully working with them since then. They identified 47 bird species in our summer grazing alone, including 13 IUCN red list and 12 amber list species at risk of being lost to the UK, including skylark, curlew, lapwing, redshank and black grouse. Our bird of prey tally includes hen harrier, osprey, red kite, buzzard, kestrel, and tawny and short-eared owl. With the help of the RSPB, we have twice been recipients of Working for Waders funding to improve wader habitat, latterly also drawing in some neighbours. The restricted 2021 AECS round would permit no new wader projects. Only those already in pre-existing wader management schemes could apply. Incensed, with the help of the RSPB, we set about pulling together a group of local farms and estates to apply for a collaborative wader management scheme under AECS 2022. Nine months later, we finally heard we had been successful individually and as a group. We are proud to be part of the new West Angus Wader Project.

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Recently I attended a meeting of the External Steering Group of the NatureScot Farming with Nature programme. NatureScot is leading on the development of the mechanisms to tackle Scotland’s biodiversity crisis and safeguard Scotland’s natural capital as part of the Scottish Government’s National Test Programme. The programme will inform the delivery of the Scottish agricultural reform transition and directly shape the future rural support framework. It includes four key projects designed to test how farming with nature can be integrated into sustainable food production while improving outcomes for nature and climate. It has developed several tools to be used at the field, farm and landscape scale. These include a biodiversity audit app for farmers to assess the condition of farm habitats and biodiversity and an integrated whole farm plan template for natural capital assessment. I hope both, in some form, will be part of the reformed conditional support framework.

While the Steering Group have not seen any of the mechanisms in practice, NatureScot has been working with around 100 farmers to develop and test the best way to map and measure biodiversity outcomes on their farms and crofts. This is complex, but thanks to the efforts of participating farmers, NatureScot is refining their approach to ensure they get it right. Conditionality will come at a cost for farmers with limited resources in terms of finances or time. This is, perhaps, especially true for livestock farmers like ourselves. We already feel a heavy burden of regulation with animal health plans, water management and margins, NVZ plans and farm inspections. There is, undeniably, anxiety around enhanced conditionality. Farmers are not ecologists, and we will need support through this transition. But we cannot be rendered dependent on costly consultants.

Further, we know our land best and are most invested in the outcomes. As farmers, we need to be up-skilled through this transition to deliver all the public benefits we know livestock units can. And most importantly, we need to be appropriately remunerated for delivering these services. I believe we can and should be stepping up to the challenge.

Visit Kinclune on March 9, 2023 for a joint Working for Waders and RSPB workshop. This event will be a chance to discuss the challenges and opportunities of integrating nature-friendly farming with running a farm business. This event is free, and lunch is included. Booking is required as places are limited—project supported by funding from the Scottish Government Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund.

* Aylwin, formerly an environmental lawyer, is a Nature Friendly Farming Network Scotland steering group member. She runs Kinclune, a 300-ha upland organic livestock unit in Angus with her sister, Virginia, and three other family members. The farm comprises 103 beef suckler cows, pedigree Lleyn ewes and a breeding herd of Highland ponies. Kinclune received the RSPB Nature of Scotland Food and Farming Award in 2021 for integrating wader management into their farm business.