Aug 27 2013
SPORTING INTERESTS MUST PLAY FAIR WITH FARMING TENANTS
SPORTING INTERESTS MUST PLAY FAIR WITH FARMING TENANTS
In response to concerns about the often conflicting interests between field sports and agriculture the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association is urging landlords and their shooting tenants to play fair with farming tenants. Autumn is frequently the time when the competing demands of farming and shooting can flare into dispute as ripening crops are subjected to marauding pheasants causing crop damage and heated tempers.
Commenting on the situation STFA spokesperson Angus McCall said: “Field sports can be a major source of disagreement between landlord and tenants especially where shooting is rented out with keepers eager to provide good sport for their clients. Tenant farmers, trying to make a livelihood from the farm, understandably feel that agricultural production is the main purpose of the lease and sporting activities should take second place and fit in with farming practices. Relationships deteriorate rapidly when crops are damaged by birds or deer and shooting parties interfere with the day to day running of the farm.
“This conflict could all too easily be resolved if landlords and gamekeepers treated farming tenants with respect, consulted with them and tried to work together. Although the TFF Guide to Good Relations provides some advice on relationships between the shooting tenant and the agricultural occupier, the Code of Good Shooting Practice* is deafeningly silent on relationships with the farming tenant – the full time occupier on the land. The Code waxes lyrical on respect for the countryside and on the welfare for the shooting quarry, but nowhere is there any mention that the sport is taking place over another person’s workplace whose interests also have to be taken into account. If this Code is to be credible, this flaw should be addressed immediately and recommendations made to improve relationships between shooters and farmers.
“As the shooting season approaches we will be encouraging Scottish Lands and Estates and their members to treat farming interests with consideration and respect, make good any game damage promptly and make sure that the sporting activity takes place within clear guidelines agreed at the start of the season. In return, the farming tenant will undoubtedly co-operate with the sporting enterprise and arrange his farming activities accordingly.”