With over 11,000 delegates at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham last week, it could be easy to feel like a little fish in a big pond. But these are extraordinary political times – and for NFU Scotland as a lobbying organisation, it was felt that if we did not jump into that pond now, then when would we ever?

Andrew McCornick, Martin Kennedy, Jonnie Hall and I took that jump in to the Conservative Party Conference from Sunday through to Tuesday last week.

The power of networking cannot be underestimated and NFU Scotland attendance at these events is as much about opening doors with key political decision-makers so that they are easier to access whenever the Union might need to lean on them for support on any given issue.

Importance of the conference

Now, opening those doors at Westminster has never been more important – particularly as the Houses of Parliament are currently scrutinising an agriculture bill, which is the first piece of domestic legislation directly impacting upon agricultural policy in two generations.

During the three days spent at the conference, we worked hard to speak to as many new and existing contacts as we could. To name just some, we caught up with Secretary of State for Defra Michael Gove, and his Farming Minister, George Eustice.

We also had lengthy discussions with a number of the Scottish Conservative MPs from Westminster, as well as various influential MSPs, on our approach towards the agriculture bill. We met with the Secretary of State for Scotland, David Mundell, and we also made new connections with advisors to the Prime Minister for the first time, which could prove invaluable.

This was alongside being in the room for keynote speeches from top government ministers and attending a vast array of fringe events to feed into policy discussions. In all, it was a very busy three days – but time that was very well spent.

As a lobbying organisation, NFU Scotland cannot just speak to one political quarter.

So president Andrew McCornick and I were set to do it all over again on Monday 8 October when we returned to the SNP’s gathering in Glasgow to get in front of the most important decision-makers in Scotland.

Throughout the autumn, we will also continue with a busy programme of meetings with other political parties in Westminster and in Holyrood as MPs and MSPs debate the issues impacting NFU Scotland members.

Be aware of scammers

With BPS/Greening loan scheme payments about to start, scamming activity trying to access farm and croft bank accounts will increase over the next few days and weeks. NFU Scotland is urging its members to be ever vigilant of scammers trying to access their bank accounts through phone calls, scam emails or letters.

Fall in harvest yields

The first estimates of the 2018 Scottish cereal and oilseed rape harvest show that both the area of cereals grown and the yield in Scotland are likely to fall, leading to a decline in production for 2018. This is, in large, due to the poor weather conditions experienced in early 2018.

Continuing talks with BBC

Following an unprecedented level of support from members on our decision to tackle the BBC head on over its sensationalist and inaccurate programme about dairy bull calves - ‘Disclosure – The Dark Side of Dairy’ – NFU Scotland met with the BBC last week to discuss its content. We reiterated our position that the poor-quality journalism merits a full apology and retraction. We are considering our next steps.

Woodland Assessments

As part of ongoing work to promote better integration between farming and forestry in the Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN) area, Forestry Commission Scotland, is offering a limited number of free Farm Woodland Assessments across the CSGN Area to help farms and small estates identify opportunities for new woodland planting to support their farm businesses. To express your interest contact Virginia Harden Scott at virginia.hardenscott@forestry.gsi.gov.uk or on 0300 067 6294.