Crofting

Previously, Highland agriculture was based on farms or bailtean, which had common grazing and arable open fields operated on the run rig system.

By preventing this section of society from sub-letting, the landlords obtained all of the rent paid by those who worked the land.

Secondly, landowners replaced the older farming methods with pastoral systems, with leases being auctioned off to the highest bidder.

In many clearances, the tenants of inland farms were moved to crofting communities in coastal areas, often on poorer quality land.

[7] Aside from hay and oats, usually root vegetables, potatoes or cabbages were grown and peat would be cut by hand and left outside in various characteristic patterns of stacks to dry so as to serve later for fuel or sometimes for bedding for animals.

A contemporary estimate was that a crofter needed to carry out 200 days of work away from his croft in order to avoid destitution.

The small arable plots had meant that the potato was an essential crop, due to its high productivity.

The arrival of potato blight (and the collapse of the kelp industry a few years before) made some crofting communities inviable.

The area amounted to 1,214 hectares (3,000 acres) of land and included the crofting townships of Gartymore, Portgower, Marrel and West Helmsdale.

[13] The transfer of ownership was in favour of crofters, some of whom were descendants of people removed from the Sutherland Estate two centuries previously.

[25] The Scottish government, due to the acknowledged complexity of the statutory codes, has a public consultation open until 2 September 2024 as to possible ways of simplifying the law.

The Keeper offers online guidance in the form of a list as to events that trigger a mandatory registration.

[32] Croft tenants are subject to the statutory conditions of tenure contained in section 5 and Schedule 2 of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993.

[36] As of 12 June 2023 applications can be made online to the Crofting Commission in respect of assignations, decroftings, divisions and sublets.

In addition to the duty of residential tenants and owner-occupiers crofters are required to ensure the croft is cultivated, maintained and not neglected or misused.

Individual crofts are typically established on 2–5 hectares (5–12+1⁄2 acres) of in-bye[40] for better quality forage, arable and vegetable production.

Since the late 20th century, the government has classified virtually all of the agricultural land in the Highlands and Islands as Severely Disadvantaged, under the terms of the Less Favoured Area (LFA) Directive, yet these areas reported in 2008-9 receiving the lowest LFA payments.

[42] Most crofters cannot survive economically by crofting agriculture alone, and they pursue a number of other activities to earn their livelihood.

[43] The underlying potential of the crofting areas to produce a diverse local landscape and a more satisfactory diet for local people can be explored by analysis taking the agricultural values and practices of the pre-capitalist clan system in order to critique the view that the current Less Favoured Areas are intrinsically poorer.

[44] On that basis, "traditional" landscape and livestock-dominated practices are no more than the outcome of market dependency and should not be regarded as the inevitable measure of the potential of the land.

[52] The commission has its own support staff, and its main office is at Great Glen House, Leachkin Road, Inverness IV3 8NW.

The staff is of approximately 70 civil servants with their Chief Executive appointed by the Scottish Ministers after discussion with the Commission Convenor.

[60] There are provisions to ensure that at all times at least one member of the Crofting Commission (whether elected or appointed) is a Gaelic language speaker.

[61] Reports of crofting litigation are a resource designed for lawyers that gives detailed information as to the families and the farms featured in the narrative.

Crofting landscapes show great beauty but also the remote, harsh and unyielding nature of the terrain.

Often historically combined with fishing or the exploitation of peat, potash, or seaweed, agriculture operates on an uneconomic scale.

Consequently, other industries connected to wool such as weaving or knitting, or to distillery products such as whisky and gin have developed.