"WE are fu****" – that's how newspapers of the future could report on Brexit, a listening exercise has found.

Scottish Rural Action, an apolitical not-for-profit group, held digital and face-to-face sessions from Inverness to Castle Douglas and Tiree to Eyemouth.

Participants were asked to produce headlines they might see in a newspaper to "reflect opportunities and concerns about Brexit".

Other suggestions included "21st Century Clearance: Scandal of the Rural Poor", "Brexit Bonus for Bankers" and "Shellfish Shambles".

Amanda Burgauer, chair of Scottish Rural Action, said it had uncovered "widespread anger and frustration" about the process, which compounds concerns about depopulation, underfunding and increased centralisation.

She said: “There is widespread anger and frustration across rural Scotland, but that anger isn’t solely about Brexit. It was clear from workshop discussions that Brexit is compounding long standing concerns about rural equity and fragility.

"Brexit was described as the ‘straw that breaks rural Scotland’s back’, with people pointing to structural fragilities across rural communities. Participants generally believed that an historic over-reliance on EU funding to ‘prop-up’ rural areas makes rural Scotland particularly exposed to future loss of EU support.”

One Angus employer within the soft fruit sector has only 20% of the required 4500 staff on his books, Scottish Rural Action was told. That business "predominantly" employs sessional migrant workers.

Two inshore fish production companies in Fort William and Oban with more than 1400 migrant workers between them said they face "severe turnover" of existing staff "due to Brexit uncertainty".

The report, funded through the Scottish Government's Brexit Stakeholder Fund, found rural economies have been "hollowed out by the retreat of the state after ten years of austerity, centralised public procurement and widening societal inequality".

Adding Brexit to this, it is feared, will make some areas "unviable".

Just 10% of those taking part in online or face-to-face events were pro-Brexit.

Of this group, most either said the change could boost their sector or backed withdrawal due to "being anti-Scottish Government or anti-immigration".

Burgauer said: "This report is about giving voice to a rural point of view that is rooted in Scotland’s people and places, rather than its rural industries.

"There was an expectation of a hollowing out of rural Scotland through loss of EU funding, and there was worry about social cohesion with Brexit intensifying a sense of ongoing powerlessness in rural communities."

At the report's launch in Elgin, Constitutional Relations Secretary Michael Russell said: “Rural communities are deeply worried about the impact of Brexit on their lives. From funding and trade to community life and the workforce, many believe the effects will be nothing short of catastrophic.

“This is sadly yet another example of just how damaging Brexit will be for Scotland.”