Crofting is a unique form of land
tenure, and though there are similarities with other small
farming systems throughout Europe, it has no exact replica.
The History of Crofting
Crofting as we know it today, is
located in the peripheral areas representing some of the
poorest and most disadvantaged agricultural land in Europe.
However, the crofting communities did not inhabit these
areas by accident, but rather by a series of events which
culminated in what today are known as the "highland
Clearances."
The demise of the traditional land
ownership structure was closely linked to the destruction
of the clan system after the defeat of the Jacobite rising.
The dismantling of the clan system led to problems such
as over-population, due primarily to excessive subdivisions
of holdings. These man-made problems were exacerbated by
natural disaters such as the potato famine, which resulted
in mass emigration to Canada and Australia.
These voluntary emigrants were often
accompanied by whole communities who had been forcibly cleared
off their land to make way for more profitable or desirable
enterprises such as sheep farming and sporting estates.
Towards the end of the 19th Century there were a number
of noted battles involving crofters against landlords who
were attempting to deny them their traditional rights. The
land battles, often involving women and elderly people,
attracted attention and public concern was such that a Commission
was appointed to look into the whole issue of crofting.
The resulting Napier Commission report
made a number of recommendations, the most important of
which was a need for new legislation, which would give crofters
security of tenure. Thus the first Crofting Act was passed
in 1886 and essentially gave crofters security of tenure
and also the right of compensation for any improvements
carried out by them. The first crofts were created in 1886
but there was still an immense demand for land, and land
raids (the forcible acquisition of land) continued until
after the Second World War. So throughout the first half
of the 20th century further crofts were created, mostly
on land acquired by the Department of Agriculture. So the
legal definition of a croft as opposed to a smallholding
is that it must have been registered as a croft under the
1886 or subsequent Crofting Acts. But what is the practical
difference?
Crofting Today
There are 17000 registered crofts
in the Highlands and Islands and these are concentrated
on the North and West coasts and the Islands which lie in
that seaboard such as Shetland in the North to Mull and
Tiree in the South. There is no specific size for a croft
- it very much depends on the physical nature of the landscape
of the area in which any one crofting township is located.
However, despite these differences all crofts have similarities
in that they are operating in the most physically disadvantaged
areas, with atrocious weather conditions coupled with distance
from markets etc. Most crofting agriculture is based on
the production of store sheep and cattle, which are then
sold on to be finished elsewhere in the U.K.
Crofting is as much a way of life
as an economic or physical activity. The Crofting Township
is unique because it is both collaborative and individualistic.
The township committee allocates common grazings, sets dates
for communal shearing and dipping of sheep, arranges for
the visit of the bull and may share the costs of a new piece
of equipment. But individual's manage the croft as a sole
tenant and may try new ideas or dispense with old ones according
to what they wish for themselves and their families. Without
collaboration the communities could not survive - without
individualism they would not want to. But, cofting, both
individually and collectively, is constrained by external
factors because crofting is not full-time agriculture -
it was never intended to be. The principle constraint is
the availability of additional income.
There are some full-time crofters
earning their entire living from agriculture, but these
are the minority. Most crofters require another occupation,
sometimes several part-time occupations, and sometimes just
one main job.
Thus we see in the delicate balance
of crofting, not only its dependence on the agricultural
economy, but even more importantly on the health of the
wider Highland economy.
