Economic conditions of crofting 2015-18: survey

6. Sources of information on crofting

6.1 Crofters were asked about their awareness of and use of advice and support on crofting activities.

6.2 Just over a third of crofters had looked for advice or support on crofting activities in the last 12 months. Tenant crofters were more likely than owner occupiers to have looked for advice (43% compared to 34%), while those over 65 were most likely not to have looked for advice or support, with almost three quarters of this age group not having done so (74%).

6.3 Younger crofters were more likely to seek out advice or support than older crofters. Forty-seven per cent of 35-54 year olds and 44% of 55-64 year olds had sought out advice, compared with 26% of those aged 65 years or over^[15].

6.4 From a list of support sources, crofters were asked to indicate which they were aware of. As shown in Figure 6.1, almost three quarters of participants were aware of the Crofting Commission or local ACC Assessor (73%), while almost six in ten were aware of the Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme (59%) with similar numbers aware of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (56%) and the Scottish Crofting Federation (56%).

Figure 6.1 Q Which of the following sources of advice/support are you aware of? (Base: 627)

6.5 While there was a fair level of awareness of support sources, fewer crofters were prepared to use these. Most crofters, however, (52%) said that they would use the Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme (CAGS), while half of crofters (50%) said they would use the Crofting Commission or local CC Assessor and over four in ten (42%) crofters said they would use the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP), as illustrated in Figure 6.2 below.

Figure 6.2 Q Which of the following sources of advice/support would you use? (Base: 526)

6.6 When asked how they would prefer to receive future information and guidance on crofting activities, a letter posted to their address was by far the most popular response with almost three quarters of crofters (74%) choosing this option. Email correspondence was the next most popular response, selected by a third of participants overall (34%), though less than a quarter of those in the 65+ age group (23%) would prefer this form of communication. Talking to friends and family and a community forum/workshop were also popular.

6.7 While receiving a letter in the post was the most popular option among all age groups, younger crofters were more likely than older crofters to want to receive information through other methods. In particular, those aged 35-54 and 55-64 were more likely to want to received information through email correspondence and through a community forum/workshop than those aged 65+ (Figure 6.3).

Figure 6.3 Preferred mode of future information and guidance on crofting activities by age (693)^[16]