Section 29 - Code of Practice on Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture
142.This section places a duty on the Scottish Ministers to prepare and publish guidance on sustainable and regenerative agriculture within one year of this section coming into force. The guidance is to be known as the Code of Practice on Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture and is to contain, among other things:
an explanation of what the Scottish Ministers are classifying as sustainable and regenerative agriculture,
the agriculture activities and methods that they consider best practice for sustainable and regenerative agriculture,
and such other information about sustainable and regenerative agriculture as they consider appropriate.
143.As the code is to set out what the Scottish Ministers consider to be sustainable and regenerative agriculture, no definitions are contained in the Act. Part of the reason for this approach is to enable the definitions and guidance to adapt over time in light of changing practices and what is considered sustainable and regenerative in this context.
144.While what constitutes sustainable agriculture is reasonably self-explanatory, regenerative farming is broadly any form of farming activity which both generates production and improves the environment. Practitioners try, for example, to disturb the soil as little as possible, following ‘no-till’ methods which do not disturb the complex network of wormholes and fungal hyphae in the soil. That, in turn, improves the capacity of the soil as a carbon store, and should help reduce reliance on artificial fertilisers.
145.The Code is to be reviewed by the Scottish Ministers on a 5-year cycle and they are to consult such people as they consider likely to be interested in or affected by it. Once published (or republished), the Scottish Ministers must promote the awareness of the code as they consider appropriate. They must also do so at other times that they consider appropriate.
