Last week a group of European agricultural folk gathered at the new museum in Lerwick to air their views on how to give remote rural communities a realistic future, economically, environmentally and socially. It's a tough issue which takes a lot of chewing over, as Ronnie Eunson explains.


"EU Inter-Knitting"

THIS intriguing title for our conference was explained as a metaphorical untangling of the threads that bind together biodiversity, agriculture and community.

Shetland's Voar project hosted 60 visitors and guests from Belgium, Holland, Germany, Norway, England, Ireland and Scotland. These partners were involved in a range of EU Interreg and Leader initiatives with a common theme of designing more sustainable rural policy.

Journalist and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch added an imaginative touch by contributing from her experiences with assisting the Eigg community take control of their island and start on the long road to creating a more viable way of life. Interestingly she pointed out that it is the women who leave failing communities first, forsaking the men. Is this some basic instinct for survival on the part of the women?

Gwyn Jones of SAC gave a very sobering breakdown of a set of crofter's accounts. The message was very straightforward. An active crofter with 26 cows and 190 ewes would achieve a profit of £3,000 per annum. If he gave the use of his land to a neighbour, but kept the Single Farm payment, he would make a clear margin of £7,000. It would be very interesting and indeed worthwhile if this same exercise was to be carried out in Shetland.

Becky Shaw of the Scottish Crofting Foundation reinforced the audience's appreciation of the unfairness of the Scottish Executive's support to the crofting counties. She used SEERAD's own map of the distribution of agricultural subsidies to highlight that to those that have shall be given even more.

Dag Jorunn Lonning, a rural academic from Norway, shifted the debate to a more cultural and socio-economic plane when he contended that the future for marginal rural economies lay in the emphasis of "distinctiveness". It is a fact that these areas cannot compete globally by producing the same goods, so they must sell their unique offerings with pride in their cultural differences.

No more Charolais calves or Suffolk rams winning the local shows then? Now that would be exciting.

Nick Riddiford, the eminent Fair Isle ecologist, gave an insightful and devastatingly analytical account of the defects of the ESA and RSS schemes when operated in his island. His research did much more than make the SEERAD offerings look just plain daft, but made intelligent suggestions as to how SEERAD could achieve Value For Money for the same cost. Seldom has a critique been delivered with such accomplished modesty, clarity of language and with such positive helpfulness.

Finally Geoff Brown, a project manager from Cumbria, indicated how such a diverse gathering of minds could apply its accumulated wisdom to a positive effect. This after all was the point of all the talk and all the research. If the well-intentioned efforts of these partners were to mean something to rural folk, then they must put their findings to good use and not let them rot on the shelves of academia.

The conference evening meals featured Native Shetland beef supplied by Eleanor Arthur of the Shetland Cattle From Shetland Group. Now that's using local produce!