Scottish farmers handed bigger role in national flood plan

Scottish farmers and crofters are being given a defined role in the country’s new flood resilience programme, with commitments covering farm water management, tree planting and natural flood measures.

The Scottish government’s four-year National Flood Resilience Strategy Implementation Plan sets out 65 actions to be delivered between 2026 and 2030, including several directly involving agricultural land and rural businesses.

Among them is a commitment to review and update practical guidance for farmers and landowners on managing water and making businesses more resilient to changing weather patterns.

The work will be carried out through Farming and Water Scotland, a Scottish Government-funded programme delivered by SAC Consulting with support from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

The service already provides farmers with advice on issues including water use, pollution prevention, slurry management and water scarcity.

Under the new flood plan, guidance provided through the programme is due to be reviewed and updated during 2026-27.

The measures form part of a wider attempt to manage flood risk at landscape and catchment level rather than relying solely on conventional flood defences.

SEPA is due to review its Natural Flood Management Opportunity Maps by spring 2027 and update them in selected pilot catchments where appropriate.

The maps are intended to identify locations where natural measures could provide the greatest benefit, with updated information from the pilot areas expected to be published by the end of 2027.

Natural flood management can include restoring floodplains, peatlands, woodland and river habitats to slow or temporarily store water before it reaches communities downstream.

For farmers, that could mean a greater focus on how individual holdings contribute to water management across an entire catchment.

The implementation plan also commits the Scottish government to continuing the use of the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme to support water-management measures through to 2030.

Tree planting is another part of the programme.

Scottish Forestry will continue supporting woodland creation in riparian areas and other locations where trees can benefit the water environment through the Forestry Grant Scheme.

Farmers and crofters will also continue to be able to access support for low-density tree planting, alongside advice on establishing and managing trees.

The government has separately said that from 2030 it intends to make support clearer and easier to access for farmers and crofters managing land for climate resilience, including flood resilience, through agricultural reform.

The increased emphasis on agricultural land also raises questions over how farmers should be supported where natural flood-management measures affect production.

During a Holyrood debate on the strategy on 23 September, MSPs discussed the need to work across entire catchments with farmers, crofters and other land managers.

Conservative MSP Finlay Carson argued that land managers should receive appropriate support where measures such as tree planting, peatland restoration or allowing land to hold water result in the loss of agricultural opportunity.

He also called for agricultural support arrangements to recognise the flood-protection value provided by farmland.

Climate Action and Rural Affairs Secretary Gillian Martin pointed to examples where farmers had already made land available for environmental or flood-management purposes and said work on future agricultural support payments was continuing.

The debate highlights a potentially significant issue as Scotland expands natural flood management: how the public benefit of holding or slowing water on farmland should be balanced against the productive and economic value of that land.

The agricultural commitments sit within a much broader programme of flood resilience investment.

A new £5 million Community Flood Resilience Fund is due to open in 2027, with £1m available directly for community applications and £4m for local authorities working with communities.

A further £3m will support blue-green infrastructure projects, while £2.5m will be available to improve existing public flood assets.

Up to £1m has also been allocated to coastal resilience projects, with £500,000 earmarked for communities recovering from recent flooding.

Those funds are part of £15m in additional flood-prevention investment announced by the Scottish government and are not specifically reserved for agricultural businesses.

Climate Action and Rural Affairs Secretary Gillian Martin said the government’s approach extended beyond managing water to decisions over infrastructure, land management and how communities adapt to increased flood risk.

She said Scotland would continue using nature-based approaches including river and peatland restoration and tree planting as part of its response.

For farmers and crofters, the implementation plan points towards a growing role in catchment-wide flood management over the coming years, alongside measures intended to make farm businesses themselves more resilient to increasingly variable weather.