Episode 4. “We are a really strong community here in the Western Isles,” said Donald. Our journalists will try to respond by joining the threads when

Then everyone came across market forces, and if you judge everything on the basis of money, all the emotional and moral justification have no point.

The increase in home working and the possibilities of the telecroft, wired to the world through modem and telephone, have begun to change the age-old dependency on sheep and fish, but these developments have still to make a significant impact. Little has changed. “Pigs are expensive to breed as feed imports are so expensive so I can’t afford to sell them cheaper to a local market,” he explained. “They can also be used for community growing projects – planting trees and Donald is currently building the first polycrub to house livestock on the island.”. To arrange either follow this link: www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/subscribe, Get involved with the news in your community, This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice. Crofters are part of the fabric of Scottish history, and crofting - as officialdom increasingly recognises - is an appropriate way of using Scottish land. “There are young people who are very keen to come to the Outer Hebrides and take on this way of life, but they are being priced out of the market. Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2019. It is a landscape that only crofting, with its small-scale approach and community spirit, was ever able to work with. The unemployment rate in Sutherland stands at more than 17 per cent.

'It's not surprising that the landlords have problems now; they have to realise that they don't just buy land, they inherit what it implies to other people - its history, not just its present value. Karen harvests her own rainwater to feed the plants which is collected and stored in two 1000-litre IBCs attached to the Polycrub. A new age of crofting in the Outer Hebrides. Even though Assynt offers clear proof that crofting can flourish in the modern world, and despite the unprecedentedly strong legislative armour that protects them, most crofters still feel not just a sense of grievance, but of hopelessness. But is his way of life quite as bad as it's made out to be? Independent Premium.

'The strips have gone to bracken now, where all those crofts have been given up. I have been wanting to build a large barn for my stock, but it is too big an investment, so this is a perfect halfway house between having livestock outdoors and building the shed. A year on, things have progressed steadily, with plans for reafforestation, a water-lily farm and salmon farming. He has around 100 ewes on the moors, breeding Hebridean, Shetland, Texel crosses and Blackface. Loved this series, would love to see a Where Are They Now catch up, the crofters and the farming families really illustrate the hard work but thorough dedication they show to their families, their animals, and their future. The sense of community has gone - if I go to a young person now and say: 'Can you help me in the fank (sheep-pen)?' Many went to Australia or New Zealand, set up sheep farms of their own and eroded the Scottish market. The most insightful comments on all subjects “Unless you inherit a croft, there are few people who can afford the price of land and we need more people coming in to continue this tradition and to bring inactive crofts back to life. The Macleods' succeeded in securing a crofting grant to build a Polycrub in 2019 and have successfully managed heavy yields in the short time it has been active. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. For many people, the croft system also represents an ideal. He points into the distance, to another line of small houses on the coast's edge. It is and it always has been a difficult area - in many ways, it's very similar to Tuscany and southern Italy, which always needed outside money to survive.

Although the grouse-shooting industry alone pumps an estimated pounds 370m a year into the Scottish economy, these landlords continue to arouse the ire of the crofters, often simply for having money when there is so little around. Moving forward, there is a need for inactive crofters who are holding on to the land for sentimental reasons to pass it on to fresh blood, who can then breathe new air into communities and restore old crofts to life. ', 'If you asked a local person if he wanted a house here, he wouldn't take it,' David says. 'The traditional laird, with his sprawling acres and pots of money, is now pretty much gone. Across the bay of the loch, a thin ribbon of crofts, some with uneven strips of field, runs down to the water's edge; most of the windows are ominously dark, showing a crofting township dying quietly as we watch.
Donald said new measures had to be taken into consideration to make the unit livestock friendly.

Increasingly, 'white settlers' - the name given to English or southern Scots incomers - can expect to be treated as a race apart, to pay over the odds for local services and to face at best a long, weary haul to acceptance or, at worst, naked hostility. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? 'When we came here 10 years ago, two of those were working crofts, but the men got too old, and there was no one that would carry it on, so the place is just going to die.
'Assynt tried to do something against all reason, and I responded to that, and to their elation. 'active' : ''"> 'I'm cynical about people's true interest in the Highlands. When they make irritating changes, they inevitably excite hostility, because they're seen as big men in big houses who don't even live there. “We keep ewe hoggs for the SUSSS scheme, which is an important cash injection into our business, however we have two pairs of sea eagles causing carnage nearby and have suffered losses of 30% which can make a real mark on numbers and quality.”. You do it for the lifestyle and to keep the tradition going. Independent Premium Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Premium. They would like it to be scenic and beautiful but all in the past. The average annual rent is set at about pounds 30 - an economic benefit that in recent years has been bolstered by the regular receipt from the EC of a large grant, under its euphemistically titled 'Less Favoured Area' scheme, to the Highland region. Create a commenting name to join the debate. “There is no profit in crofting. There are 70 acres attached to the croft, which is rented from the West Harris Trust, but Angus also has shares in three lots of common grazing which add up to 5000 ha and outwinters his stock on nearby Taransay island. If you feel that the land is slipping away from you and that other people seem to be standing on it quite firmly, it's hard not to feel resentful. Donald’s crofts cover seven acres, but he also has access to common grazing of over 56,000 acres owned by the Galson Estate Trust, which he shares with only three other active crofters in the region. There's nothing left for them. Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile, There are no comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts, There are no Independent Premium comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts. “The majority of our outgoings are spent on feed costs and although we try and grow our own silage here, the wet weather of late has meant that we are importing concentrates over from the mainland which is an extra £70 per tonne,” Angus explained. Enter your email to follow new comments on this article.

She collects seaweed from the nearby beach, which she lies on top of the soil beds to create a mulch and swears by it as an effective pest control. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then please contact the editor here. ', Protest is inevitable, Prebble believes, as long as the anomaly of private land ownership by outsiders continues. “The seaweed feeds the soil and keeps it moist, as well as stopping weeds from growing. try again, the name must be unique, Show{{#moreThan3_total}} {{value_total}} {{/moreThan3_total}} comments, You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully, Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful

Like many in the Highlands, John Noble has taken advantage of the recent boom in salmon and seafood farming, which now contributes around pounds 200m to the Scottish economy annually. We need to be more self-sufficient as we are an island and we have three wind turbines which power 2-3000 homes here in Ness. He is a slight, youthful man, but with that dullness around the eyes that comes from constant weariness. Such injustice is not easily forgotten. Some crofting communities have benefited from CAGS funding to invest in new sheep and cattle handling systems. These difficulties are exacerbated by the lack of prospects for life beyond the daily grind. This Farming Life Documentary series following the struggles and triumphs of five very different farming families in some of Scotland's most beautiful and remote landscapes. “This money is a game changer for crofting,” continued Ian. “Crofting isn’t just about making money, people are drawn to this way of life because of the social benefits it offers and that is something we don’t want to lose.”.

You couldn't call the present crofters' situation oppressed, because they pay a minute rent, they're free to sell their crofts, and as tenants they can go on quite easily as it is. There have also been several cases of torched boats and tyres spiked as if by ghosts, within the past few months. “We are able to provide our family with six months of good organic fruit and veg and now, with the ability to grow indoors in the Polycrub, we have been able to grow grapes, olive trees, plum trees plus much more. Sutherland, where most crofts are concentrated, is the largest county in Scotland.

Also, the scenery is stunning, the production team did a great job in finding personable and relateable farmers to follow. Angus Mackay has shares in three lots of common grazing up to 5000 ha and outwinters stock on Taransay island. Crofters club together to dip their sheep in insecticide before mating time.