This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter.

Farming is what feeds us – but so many of us rarely think of what farmers do. Most voters, in the run up to what has often been described as a 'cost-of-living' election, have a mind on their bank account, whether at the petrol station, the supermarket, or household bills.

So it’s not surprising that the headline farming-connected policy has related to food bills: the SNP’s food price cap, a proposal to put a limit on the price of between 20 and 50 essential foods, which has already described by the Scottish Retail Consortium as a “potty gimmick”.

There are a number of questions around the plan, including whether it might, like Deposit Return, be challenged due to conflict with the Internal Market Act.

But, one that has provoked the most reaction, is how this policy to help people struggling with the cost of living impact those now struggling with the cost of producing. What measures, the National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS) asked in a recent letter to SNP leader John Swinney, would be “put in place to ensure that primary producers are not disproportionately impacted?”

The letter expressed a “growing concern among our members about how such a policy would be implemented, and where the financial burden of any price intervention would ultimately fall”.

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In a letter replying, SNP leader, John Swinney made it clear that “the impact of setting a fair fixed and affordable price for 20-50 essential food items will not fall on our primary producers”.

He........

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