Landlords "taking into account rents plea" A CALL by the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association for a standstill in forthcoming rent reviews - and possibly a rent rebate in the case of livestock farmers hit by the bad weather - was answered yesterday by landlords saying that some planned rent reviews had already been postponed. Luke Borwick, the chairman of Scottish Land & Estates whose 2,500 members own the majority of farmed land in Scotland, said that not only were some rent reviews being deferred but also, where they were due to be held, the impact of the bad weather would be discussed and taken into account. However, he rejected any thought of a blanket moratorium, saying it would be inappropriate. The landlords" response followed a letter sent to the SL&E and to major firms of land agents who are regularly involved in rental negotiations by the recently-appointed STFA chairman Christopher Nicholson. The letter pointed out that tenant farmers had been hard hit by the unbroken bad weather over the past 12 months. Arable farmers had suffered disastrous harvests, while livestock producers had been hit by fodder shortages and increased costs. "This has all conspired to put great strain on farming businesses, which has now been compounded by the ravages of recent prolonged snow storms and a late spring," said Nicholson. The stresses and strains of trying of survive under difficult farming conditions will only be exacerbated by rent reviews in the next few weeks. A moratorium on rent increases for 2013 would allow tenant farming businesses some time to recover from the effects of last year and to make plans to adapt to the challenges of climate change and the likelihood of continuing extreme weather patterns as well as making provision for reduced direct support under [European Union] common agricultural policy reform. Making a special plea for hill farmers, Nicholson who farms at Kidsdale in Wigtownshire, said the recent snow storms would mean reduced income from calving as well as lambing losses without counting the cost of replacing breeding stock which had perished due to the severe weather. This will inevitably cause major financial hardship and possible pressure from banks reluctant to extend overdraft facilities to tenant farmers. I would ask you to consider a rent rebate for livestock farmers in this position. While accepting that some parts of the country had been badly hit by the recent bad weather Borwick claimed it had not been uniformly detrimental throughout Scotland. In some areas, farming has not been seriously impacted and rent reviews are taking place as scheduled and rents have been agreed through constructive dialogue. l The SFTA yesterday announced the appointment of two vice-chairmen: Michael Halliday, a dairy farmer from Dumfries, and Andrew Stoddart, an arable and sheep farmer from Midlothian.