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Tell Scotland's party leaders:
We need more nature-friendly farming!
Scotland’s farmers and crofters can help turn around the nature and climate emergency, but they're being let down. Only 5% of Scotland’s current farm funding directly supports them to farm in a nature-friendly way. We need the next Scottish Government to properly invest in nature-friendly farming.
Help us call on the leaders of Scotland’s major political parties to pledge at least 25% of farm funding in 2026 to delivering nature-friendly farming, rising to 75% in the long term. Together we can grow a nature and climate-friendly future for Scotland.
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Many farmers and crofters want to help nature, but the funding system is stuck in the past.
Around three quarters of Scotland is farmed. That puts enormous responsibility in the hands of those who work it. The current farm funding system rewards farming activity that does little for wildlife and leaves the nature-friendly pioneers struggling. This needs to change.
Nature-friendly farming is how we secure food, restore nature, and protect the climate.
Every year, RSPB Scotland works with over 700 trailblazing farmers and crofters who show that nature-friendly farming works. They are producing the food we need whilst also restoring habitat for endangered species, protecting against droughts and flooding and improving the health of the soil so they can keep farming for generations to come. We need a lot more farmers to follow their lead, and that will take a lot more government support. With this investment in nature-friendly farming, we'll be a big step closer to achieving Scotland’s targets to both reach Net Zero and restore nature by 2045.
Scotland’s iconic wildlife is at risk.
Scotland is famous for its landscapes, from the straths and arable farmland of the lowlands, to the glens and mountains of the Highlands, and the machair of the islands. But the very landscapes that define Scotland are becoming empty: since 1995, we’ve lost more than half of our Curlews and Lapwings and over a third of our Oystercatchers. We can’t imagine Scotland without these birds and this investment is vital for saving them.
