First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to retain Richard Lochhead as Rural Affairs Secretary offers stability and continuity in a week when change has been everywhere.
Days before the reshuffle Mr Lochhead could be forgiven for thinking that being Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs is not a bed of roses, as NFU Scotland president Nigel Miller attacked the slow progress of transition from the old CAP to the new and warned of subsidy cuts of 30% for some farmers.
Mr Miller warned the Cabinet Secretary that farmers urgently require a much clearer understanding of the consequences of a prolonged period of transition.
Mr Lochhead, now secure in his third term of the job, was left in no doubt that the Scottish Government faces a major challenge to explain the future to farmers.
Given the keen interest in the Scottish Government roadshows, with packed meetings in Perth and at Thainstone near Inverurie, Mr Lochhead can be in no doubt that one of his first tasks is to ensure there are more answers than questions in a system of farm support that is bewildering complex, and increasingly frustrating farmers.
While Mr Lochhead stays, Government chief agricultural officer Drew Sloan departs for a private-sector job.
His place is filled by David Barnes.
He takes up his post in mid-January.
Mr Barnes has worked for the Scottish Government since 2008, and was instrumental in negotiating and developing the CAP for Scotland.
Prior to that he worked for the UK Government’s agriculture department for more than 20 years, both as an agriculture officer based in regional offices, and as a policy official in London and Brussels.
Mr Barnes is steeped in the intricacies of EU farm policy, and this will stand him in good stead when explaining to farmers the dilemma of making the best use of resources in the face of an appalling budget.
Meanwhile, change came with a clap of thunder during the week when Professor Anne Glover, the EU’s chief scientific officer, was forced out of office by EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
This sorry state of affairs has brought the vexed question of GM crops back to centre stage.
President Juncker is determined to push ahead with plans to allow EU countries to ban GM crops even if scientific advice says the technology is safe.
As chief scientific officer, Prof Glover brought a rational, science-based approach to the issue and to the Commission.
Her departure signals an abandonment of independent scientific opinion and could usher in a period of debate and discussion which is shorn of that integrity and evidence-based, rational thinking.
At a stroke, President Juncker has opened the door to ideology and vested interests which are now in a prime position to continue to dominate the public debate in Europe and elsewhere, irrespective of the attempts to bring knowledge and science-based advice into the picture.
The lack of scientific input at the top of the EU Commission is the worst thing that could happen to the GM debate.
This debate has too often been conducted in an atmosphere of ignorance and prejudice rather than rationally and scientifically.
And if all that wasn’t enough for one farming week, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) unveiled a costly array of investment proposals which will see the sale of the college’s Craibstone campus near Aberdeen and the construction of a new facility at the ANM Group’s Thainstone centre.
This will be followed in the longer term by a move for the Edinburgh campus to the Easter Bush estate near Penicuik.
The litmus test for the structural moves will be the impact on the prized Scottish system of education, consultancy and research an ethos and practical expression of the college’s work in its previous manifestations from three colleges of agriculture, to the Scottish Agricultural College and today.
It is vital that the three elements of its core functions are maintained in the tradition manner which has served rural Scotland well for generations.