When farmers and crofters feel ignored, the result is not better outcomes for nature

As Scotland pushes ahead with ambitious plans for climate action and nature restoration, discussions around species management are becoming increasingly heated. Too often the conversation is framed as a choice between nature on one side and farming and crofting on the other. This is a false dichotomy.

In Scotland, food production and nature management are deeply intertwined. Farmers and crofters are not standing in the way of nature recovery - they are essential to delivering it. But if Scotland is serious about delivering both flourishing nature and high-quality food production, we urgently need a more balanced and practical approach to species management. By framing issues as black and white, we too often fail to recognise how species management actively supports conservation. And no one understands the link between nature and agriculture better than the people who work the land every day.

Healthy soils, managed grazing, diverse grasslands and crop rotations, reliable water systems, and thriving pollinators are not abstract environmental goals. They are the foundations of productive farming and crofting. Without them, food production simply cannot function. Farmers and crofters have every reason to support a thriving natural environment.

However, when certain species populations grow rapidly or expand into new areas, the impact on farming systems can be severe. And it’s all about impacts. Livestock losses, crop damage, grazing pressures, and flooding risks are not theoretical concerns - they are real and growing challenges on farms and crofts across the country.

The issue is not the recovery of species – there are many thriving conservation successes that deserve to be celebrated. The issue is that policy has not kept pace with the realities, and impacts, of this conservation on the ground.

Too often, decisions about species management appear to be made far from the people who deal with the consequences every day – and those consequences extend far beyond agricultural damage and the associated financial costs. When policies are developed without fully understanding how they affect working farms and crofts, frustration builds quickly – and emotional stress with it.

And when farmers and crofters feel ignored, the result is not better outcomes for nature, it is increasingly division and mistrust.

Across Scotland, farmers and crofters are increasingly facing growing pressures from certain species. Each species presents a different challenge. Each area faces its own circumstances. Yet this does not mean we ask for a policy response that often feels fragmented and reactive.

Measures are introduced to deal with individual conflicts, but rarely as part of a clear long-term strategy that looks at the bigger picture. Instead of anticipating problems and managing them early, policy frequently reacts only once impacts hit home and tensions have escalated.

That approach serves no one well - not farmers, not crofters, not wildlife, and not conservationists.

Perhaps the most concerning development in recent years is the growing perception among farmers and crofters that policy is increasingly moving away from the practical, day‑to‑day management they rely on to make a sustainable living.

Public debate about species protection and reintroductions often overlooks one simple fact - Scotland’s countryside is a working landscape.

Farms and crofts are not relics and reminders of bygone days. They are businesses operating on tight margins while producing high-quality food to exacting standards in increasingly uncertain economic and climatic conditions.

When wildlife policy fails to recognise that reality, it risks undermining the very people who manage most of Scotland’s land. Farmers and crofters are not opposed to nature recovery, they want to be part of it. In fact, they are it’s most vital partners. But genuine partnership requires fairness and practicality.

It means recognising that responsible species management - including population control where necessary - is sometimes essential to maintain both ecological balance and viable farming systems. The full range of management tools must remain available from non-lethal deterrents to habitat management and mitigation measures. At the same time, responsible, regulated population control must remain an option where scientific evidence shows it is needed. Eliminating these tools entirely risks creating even bigger problems in the future.

Most importantly, it means that farmers and crofters need to be fully involved in shaping the solutions. To develop a coherent national approach to species management, which is what is needed, means that everyone involved is required to sit at the table. Achieving that will require stronger leadership and far better coordination across government policy.

And I’ll keep saying it until I’m heard: Scotland’s environment is the product of a long and mutual partnership between people and nature. That partnership must be retained and strengthened if Scotland is to realise so many of its economic, environmental and social ambitions. Species management sits at the heart of this challenge – address that and you’re halfway there.

The solution is not to pit conservation against farming and crofting. The solution is to build a system where both can succeed. What is needed now is the political will, and the guts for leadership, to create a species management approach that works for nature and for the people who farm and croft Scotland’s land.

Jonnie Hall is Director of Policy and Deputy CEO of NFU Scotland