Conference recognises that rural Scotland is the jewel in Scotland’s crown, providing the high quality food, glorious landscape, leisure opportunities and celebrated heritage that is central to the way our country is perceived and marketed around the world, notes the importance of this natural heritage to Scotland’s economy and social well-being, and seeks to ensure its preservation and enhancement.

Conference recognises 6 key challenges for rural Scotland:

1. The central role of, and inevitable dependence on, farming, fishing and forestry in the rural economy and the end of current Common Agricultural Policy support in 2013.
   
2. Tackling rural poverty, especially in post-industrial rural areas, and low wages generally in the rural economy.
   
3. Retaining young people in, and attracting inward migration to, rural communities to help maintain a balanced population and sustainable
   communities with access to quality public services.
   
4. Continuing the land reform revolution, including increasing the availability of business premises for new enterprises and affordable housing.
   
5. Ensuring that rural Scotland rises to the challenge of becoming the renewables powerhouse of Europe, particularly in marine energy, and benefits economically from new jobs, industries and income streams.
   
6. Cementing the reputation for quality food produce.

Conference further calls for action from the Scottish Executive and other relevant bodies, in regards to:

1. Farming, Fishing, Forestry
1. Continue government support for the wider public benefits of agricultural activity , such as maintaining the landscape and natural heritage and supporting the wider rural economy, up to and beyond 2013;
   
2. Provide long term funding for developing a core path network via land management contract incentives
   
3. Increase local control over fisheries, including the transfer of powers over the seabed from the Crown Estate to local authorities and increased powers to Regional Advisory Councils
   
4. Support the development of a sustainable aquaculture industry diversifing into new species
   
5. Ensure that the goal of achieving greenhouse gas emissions reductions is included in all agricultural, forestry and land management strategies
   
6. Set an aspirational target for reforestation of Scotland by native woodland
   
7. Help ensure a secure future for crofting with a strengthened and democratically elected Crofters Commission.
2. Rural Economy
1. Improve rail and lifeline trunk road links, improving road safety, decreasing rail journey times and moving freight from road to rail wherever possible
   
2. Consult on and introduce a rural roads fund for maintaining and improving rural roads
3. Increase the role of social enterprises in rural economies
   
4. Instruct VisitScotland to improve the quality of information on its website and through local tourist offices and to help develop levels of education, skills, training and local knowledge in the tourist industry.
   
5. Roll out faster broadband connections across rural areas, including use of satellite broadband or piloting local fibre-optic networks
   
6. Encourage greater use of flexible and remote working in the public sector.
   
7. Develop a strategy to expand the role in the rural economy of tourism and leisure opportunities such as freshwater angling, field and country sports, and outdoor activities.
3. Sustainable Population
1. Increase the opportunities for new entrants in, and economic diversification of, farm businesses
   
2. Require Government to rural-proof policy and legislation
   
3. Ensure the sustainability of public services in rural areas by greater co-location and shared services, based on funding a programme of investment in local community halls and facilities to act as community hubs for a range of services and helping maintain the rural post office network
   
4. Recognise that relocation of public services has a rural aspect and should operate under a realistic timescale, and should be an enabling rather than an enforcing policy
   
5. Introduce radical new Community Land & Housing Trusts to increase the availability of affordable housing for purchase by young people, those on low incomes, and key worker groups which allow people to build up equity and share a proportion of any increase in property value without selling the property on the open market, thereby making it available to others in need of affordable homes for purchase.
4. Land Reform and Affordable Housing
1. Allow the development of new premises from derelict agricultural holdings to increase the supply of housing, especially affordable housing, and business premises in rural areas,
   
2. Consult on a new aspect to Pressurised Area Status for those areas where there is a significant detrimental impact on the availability of housing due to the proliferation of second homes, and allow local authorities to require a planning application for change of use to a second home to be made for new purchases
   
3. Encourage more use of existing land reform powers throughout rural Scotland to increase community ownership of assets.
   
4. Increase affordable housing through land holding government agencies – such as the Forestry Commission and Scottish Water –
   making land available for new crofts where feasible
   
5. Ensure Scottish Water’s investment programme helps expand the water and sewerage infrastructure in areas of particular affordable housing shortage
   
6. Pilot “unplugged” houses, using microgeneration, recycling grey water and other environmental technologies to develop houses with reduced dependence on mains infrastructure.
5. Renewable Energy
1. Extend the support and incentives for small scale and community owned Roll out faster broadband connections across rural areas, including use of satellite broadband or piloting local fibre-optic networks in renewable energy schemes to ensure that rural communities benefit from the energy generated there
   
2. Lobby the UK Government for the revision of OFGEM’s remit to have sustainable development as its primary role, ensuring that marine cables are treated fairly for electricity distribution in the long-term
   
3. Encourage biofuel and biomass production by farmers, including through a biofuel and biomass action plan
   
4. Support a pilot scheme to create an energy self-sufficient, low carbon is land economy through radical environmental technologies
   
5. Continue support for the development of wave and tidal, off-shore wind and on-shore wind renewable energy.
6. Quality Food
1. Ensure quality Scottish produce is central to the Scottish tourist experience
   
2. Promote Scottish produce abroad
   
3. Support the establishment of a private sector-led Scottish food and drink marketing and promotion body with public sector support other farming co-operatives
   
4. Give greater support to the establishment of social enterprises and co-operatives to provide healthy local food across Scotland
   
5. Increase the support given to the processing and marketing of Scottish produce and food and promote the purchase of Scottish produce by:
   1. Encouraging food labelling to show not just the country of origin but the “food miles” incurred between the country of origin and the country of sale
      
   2. Revising public sector procurement, especially in schools and hospitals, to encourage the supply of seasonal local food

Amendment 1
At end of Section A, Farming, Fishing and Forestry, add
"h. Reform the system of penalties and appeals applied to agricultural grants and subsidies to make them fairer for crofters and farmers.”