Crofting Inquiry - Rannsachadh Croitearchd

After having done a lot of different things in my life I found found my years as a crofter as some of the toughest. I am very curious to find out what is it that attracts people to a crofting life?
In the 1950 a croft was the last thing anybody wanted. Is it all about trends???

I think they are attracted by cheap house sites with big gardens and are not interested in crofting at all.
Majority of crofts are sold to people moving out of the cities or downsizing in life I thought.
However this takes these crofts out of availibility for genuine local new entrants who should get them.
The incomers then build big houses or modernise and improve existing houses to such an extent that genuine folks who want to live the traditional crofting lifstyle could never afford them.
Real crofting keep livestock and the corft in good agricultural condition will never be easy and will always be a labour of love.

hiya ihave taken on 3 crofts and i am going to give crofting a real go is thair any help i could get to get it all together like hep with fencing and animals etc

Hi,How have you managed to take on 3 crofts? Have you bought them outright or are you a tenant crofter?? The crofters commission will help you with lots of info but surely to get permission to buy a croft by tenancy you would have to have been approved by the commission... with a five year plan for your croft.. I will happily give you any advice!

x

The essence of a croft is that it should be wholly agricultural. Albeit small, the holding should be worked satisfactorily whilst the occupier may take up another form of work or employment. Whereas, in 1886 – 1911 this scale of farming may have been able to support a family (more or less), it cannot possibly do so today and the demand for more crofting is more a lifestyle choice than the necessity of employment or farm production.
In the Committee’s commissioned report entitled “Trends, Patterns and the Environmental Consequences of Land Use Across the Crofting Counties” it is reported that between 2001-2006 there was an 18% reduction in ewe numbers. A study in 2004 of 34 croft holdings on South Uist found that the annual income from farming was less than £10,000. Between 99 and 164 % of that farm income was derived from farm subsidy. Crofting is not therefore in itself a viable way for individuals to earn a living. The Committee did acknowledge this decline in their own report and noted that these figures are continuing to decline, but did not make any comment on the fact that this points to the fact that crofting is not financially viable. Further legislation is not necessary to support those who have made this lifestyle choice, particularly as any such legislation will not support farming and farm production in the future.

Hi, Can anyone advise how you go about crofting? Myself and my partner live in Scotland currently and are intersted in finding out more abut crofting. We are both outdoors people and are really fed up with our way of life. I am from a farming background as well as family that were gamekeepers. My partner has done gamekeeping, fencing, estate maintence and we are keen to get back to the outdoors way of life again. However, we don't know how to go about this and what it entails...Could you offer some advise please.

regards
Nancyb

To reply to the original posting, I think there are a range of types of people with a range of motivations.

It's arguably true that the basic reason is a desire to opt out of the urban English way of life.

It would be interesting to see statistics on:
- how new crofters get on
- what they did with the land
- how long they last
- what their background is
- what their category is (local, incomer, young family, older semi-retirees)

Whilst it may be true that a number of middle-aged to retirement-aged sasannachs might be moving in simply to decroft and retire, and capitalise on relatively cheap housing, a big garden, and nice views, this can't be the whole picture.

It's entirely understandable that locals should become frustrated at this... much as they are in Cornwall and Cumbria. It's a totally legitimate concern that the area is being steadily transformed into a giant leisure and retirement park and museum; and it's reasonable to change the way crofts are acquired to be one that suits the locals more than incomers.

It sounds like there are changes afoot:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7394008.stm

I think you can put part of the interest down to the conflux of house prices and work-life balance and stress in England; but not all of it. There's the environmentalism thing that's grown recently including the interest in allotments and organic food... people becoming aware of food miles and pollution and things.
We got an allotment just before all this; now there's a massive list of pushy middle-class families apparently desperate to get one.
You could also relate the trend to the sort of people who like Ray Mears and shop at Rohan and Nevisport.
It's a frequently middle-class, and perhaps not exculsively English thing.

For me, I grew up in England with a constant reminder of the island my "clan" was supposed to come from, and an old painting of a Scottish great-grandad; so for me there is a sense of identity involved in the desire; but also just wanting a life that is not part of the soul-destroying suburban commuter thing where your destiny seems to be to spend much of your life sat down and plugged into one antisocial machine or another... and I'm an engineering student; so not a Luddite!
Then there's the children issue... with young kids the idea your children could have a childhood similar to ones of yore is also a great inticement - especially with all the knife crime, drugs, bingeing, and breakdown in society brought on since Thatcher.
Some might connect the latter two points to being a result of mass immigration and that great Orwellian term "diversity".
I think more and more people are looking back at what's been lost... and crofting with it's authentic (rather than government contrived and fake) sense of community and values is looking ever more idyllic.
When i was very young, doors weren't locked; nor were bikes when you popped into a shop... now we use two locks for both... the loss of little things like that is at the heart of the yearning for a simpler life.

I think some crofting reform could involve not only pressure on absenteeism, but perhaps also the creation of a "indigenous reserve", and perhaps do an Aussie/Kiwi style points-based croft entrant "immigration" system for assignations.
You could then see crofting boards selecting applicants that suit each area's development goals. You could give points for localness; youth; appropriate and useful qualifications; school-age children; knowledge of Gaelic and indigenous culture; ethnic connection; volunteering experience; as well as external income, and a feasible plan.
Then you might see less holiday homes, and a genuinely sustainable future.

Returning again to the original question... a lot's changed since the 1950s... there is technology that is providing options that didn't exist then. People are beginning to value things more now that the bright lights of the big city are looking a bit dimmer and grimier.

There's an element of the trend in it; but I think it's a symptom of deep problems created in British society by the post-war "baby boomer" generation by deluded and aggressive idealistic zeal.

It would probably be a good idea to run a "Crofting Camp", to give "down-shifters" a taste of the brutal realities of it - a "try before you buy" - to test the appetite for it.

Personally I think crofting can be viable, as long as it changes and makes use of technology.
A lot of crofts could do cloche farming of high mark-up foods; or focus on niche high-markup animal products. Crofting is unique in the world, and I think, much as what was done with Harris Tweed, there's something to be gained by a focus on the niche and luxury ends of the market - the whole Scottish package.

"The incomers then build big houses or modernise and improve existing houses to such an extent that genuine folks who want to live the traditional crofting lifstyle could never afford them".

For the most part I agree, and like you I am quite perturbed by these people who do just that, but speaking personally and as an "incomer to crofting at least" I am not one of those, although I do intend to modernize an existing croft house I also intend to work the land and the croft house.
You are right on one thing though, keeping the land in good agricultural condition is never easy and yes, it is a labour of love
and I love it.