It's seems that almost every day I'm contacted by farmers in my constituency with concerns about their future.
This is hardly surprising as farmers are borrowing more and having to pay staff less, according to figures released by the Scottish Government.
According to ‘Agricultural Facts and Figures’ published recently, agricultural borrowing has doubled in the last ten years, capital investment has stayed the same, and agricultural workers are earning £1560 less on average compared to last year.
The figures show that farm borrowing has almost doubled from £1.38 billion to £2.28 billion between 2007 to 2017, while capital investment has stayed the same at £210m.
This demonstrates that farmers are investing much less in their machinery and equipment, while still having to borrow ever-increasing sums to remain viable.
This is on top of the fact that farmers are still struggling with debts they incurred as a result the CAP payment fiasco caused by the SNP Government several years ago.
Time and time again the separatists have shown complete disregard to the plight that our hard pressed farmers are facing. It seems that our agricultural industry is just one more sector that is ignored by the separatists in their relentless push for a second independence referendum.
Cllr Alastair Redman