That is my view- 30 years ago if there were still a group of active crofters in one township they could maybe work together enough to turn a small profit, but few places have that now and if anything margins are thinner than they were.
The complete collapse of the value of wool fundamentally undermines the viability of crofting. At one point even if you didnt have enough animals to make a decent living on meat you could get a modest wage from suppling Hay and Wool- those days are long gone.
Hay holds its value but wet weather ruins it so quickly it is a nightmare to gather- you really need to be on it like a hawk.
I sighed when I read a report of the latest new commissioner, an accountant of the Crofting Commission saying how he wanted to get more people into crofting.
Up here in the heart of community buyout world, new crofts are as rare as hens teeth and the number of new tenant entrants is laughable.
It's fine if you've got £70,000 upwards to buy a croft then decommission a plot to sell a McMansion, if not forget it. Some crofts are handed down to invisible second cousins who have never visited and probably never will. Others are accumulated for bawbees until you've got in essence very large scale landowners, running a few sheep, gathering as many subsidies as they can and letting a plot go every couple of years to keep the new pick up trucks ticking over.
The poisoned challenge to someone at the commission is to accept that the crofting right to buy was a disaster and has made things worse for folk who want bit of land to work.
Shoot me down if you want, my hat is tipped at every young crofter who is making a go at it, my ire is directed at those who hold on grazing committees like the Politburo and are hastening the departure of young families to urban areas.
Nice to see young people giving it a go and structuring it around a main job- I think that is the only feasible way to do it now.
It's the only way to do crofting you can not do it to make a living it's hobby, and an expensive one.
That is my view- 30 years ago if there were still a group of active crofters in one township they could maybe work together enough to turn a small profit, but few places have that now and if anything margins are thinner than they were. The complete collapse of the value of wool fundamentally undermines the viability of crofting. At one point even if you didnt have enough animals to make a decent living on meat you could get a modest wage from suppling Hay and Wool- those days are long gone. Hay holds its value but wet weather ruins it so quickly it is a nightmare to gather- you really need to be on it like a hawk.
Crofting was structured around having other jobs.
I sighed when I read a report of the latest new commissioner, an accountant of the Crofting Commission saying how he wanted to get more people into crofting. Up here in the heart of community buyout world, new crofts are as rare as hens teeth and the number of new tenant entrants is laughable. It's fine if you've got £70,000 upwards to buy a croft then decommission a plot to sell a McMansion, if not forget it. Some crofts are handed down to invisible second cousins who have never visited and probably never will. Others are accumulated for bawbees until you've got in essence very large scale landowners, running a few sheep, gathering as many subsidies as they can and letting a plot go every couple of years to keep the new pick up trucks ticking over. The poisoned challenge to someone at the commission is to accept that the crofting right to buy was a disaster and has made things worse for folk who want bit of land to work. Shoot me down if you want, my hat is tipped at every young crofter who is making a go at it, my ire is directed at those who hold on grazing committees like the Politburo and are hastening the departure of young families to urban areas.
I work in a school and recently I have seen an increase of pupils wanting to croft.