Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

21st Century Crofting: Strengths And Opportunities For Community Development, Bryan J. Hains, Ronald Hustedde, Kristina G. Ricketts

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

Scotland has one of the most uneven land ownership patterns in the world. In a country of 5.2 million people, about 969 people control 60% of the land. Over 20% of privately owned land in Scotland is held in some form of offshore or beneficial ownership (Committee on the Inquiry of Crofting, 2008). This land ownership pattern has a unique expression in the northern and western parts of the Scottish Highlands and Islands with a 300-year-old system of tenant farmers known as crofters. Unlike other tenant farmers across the world, crofters have gained legal rights to stay on the land …