Heavy price to pay for farmers if government slurry restrictions are enforced

Farmers could be lumbered with construction costs of up to £1.5million, if government plans to upgrade pre-1991 buildings go ahead, according to a recent survey from the National Farmer’s Union (NFU) Scotland.

The plans to upgrade slurry and silage facilities, as well as cattle accommodation with slatted floors, have been slammed as “excessively blunt and ill-thought-out” by NFU Scotland.

The survey of more than 540 NFU members — 150 of which came from Orkney — revealed costs that ranged up to £1.5million for cattle accommodation upgrades, and up to £500,000 for silage storage upgrades.

At least 293 farm buildings out of Orkney’s respondents would be unlikely to pass modern standards.

The survey went out in response to a Scottish Government (SG) consultation paper, which proposed the need to upgrade slurry and silage storages built pre-1991 to meet modern building standards.

The SG proposed this could prevent slurry effluent and silage leachate from contaminating water supplies.

However, NFU Scotland have condemned the plans as “excessively blunt and ill-thought-out,” saying the plans are “highly unlikely to yield the desired policy outcomes,” as well as incurring huge costs for farmers.

Full story in this week’s edition of The Orcadian, available now.