Scotland's tenant farmers want land rights

Half of Scotland is owned by 0.01% of the population

The rolling hills, forests and fields of Scotland are one the country's biggest attractions.

But they're also at the heart of a heated debate which could have far-reaching implications.

The Scottish Executive wants to reform the ancient land laws, which have seen half the land area fall into the hands of just 0.01% of the population.

Rural communities will be given the right to buy the land they currently rent - the legislation will enable more people to follow the islanders of Eigg and Gigha and buy the land they live on. There will also be new rights of access across the countryside for walkers.

Unhappy

Naturally, landowners aren't too happy.

But they have made little headway with their protests.

They had wanted the right to roam restricted to daylight hours and asked for valuable salmon rivers to be excluded from the right to buy.

Their appeals were rejected.

Contentious

But one of the most contentious issues concerns tenant farmers.

They want the right to buy their land as well.

They argue that this would protect them and their investment in their land.

And it's exactly how that right is given that's at the centre of the dispute.

Draft Bill

A draft bill currently being drawn up will give tenant farmers a pre-emptive right - that means they would get first refusal if their land came on to the market and six months to raise the cash.

But some farmers are campaigning for the absolute right to buy - whether the landowner wants to sell or not.

Stewart Jamieson has worked his farm since 1975

They say that much of Scotland's land is owned by family trusts and never comes on the market.

Stewart Jamieson took over his farm near Thornhill in Dumfries and Galloway from his father in 1975.

He has spent nearly £300,000 on capital improvements - the estate of his landlord, the Duke of Buccleuch, has spent £42,000.

Nothing back

When he retires, or hands on his tenancy to his family, he will have to move out of his rented home on the land and will get nothing back from his investment.

"We, as working tenant farmers, want our businesses to survive," he says. "Like any business, that needs investment.

"We believe that investment has to come from us and it also has to come from the landowners.

"That has not been happening in the past and we feel that needs to be addressed."

Action group

Stewart is one of the farmers who have set up the Scottish Farm Tenants' Action Group to press their case.

But he stresses they are only talking about those with secure tenancies.

Farmers who have a more modern, short-term partnership with their landlords are able to negotiate better deals for themselves.

"These secure tenancies have been running in some cases for 100 years with little change in the arrangements," says Stewart.

Compensation

"We have invested a lot in our farms and at the end of the day we are not getting any compensation for that."

Landowners are strongly opposed to an absolute right to buy, but say they are willing to consider a compromise of a pre-emptive right at the full market value.

Landlords will be reluctant to let land in the future, says Sandy Lewis

Sandy Lewis is chief executive of the Earl of Seafield's estate, which owns 90,000 acres in Aberdeenshire, Moray and the Highlands.

He says: "You need confidence to invest. You need to be relatively confident that especially a low yielding asset like renting agricultural land can bear the risks associated with it.

"Landlords faced with the potential of this right deepening and widening will be reluctant to let land in the future or reluctant to invest in the land."

Consultation on the issue ends in July.

Whatever the Scottish Executive decides, the face of farming in Scotland is likely to be very different in the future.