Holyrood rejects offer to extend farm support deadline

NFUS reminds applicants to include maps of their Ecological Focus Areas

The Scottish Government has turned down an offer from the European Commission of a month-long extension to the deadline for farm support.

It means farmers have just over a week left to complete their 2017 Single Application Farm (SAF).

EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan made the offer last night following requests from a number of member countries, but a government spokesman said it had been decided to hold to the original cut-off date of May 15.

“We have consulted stakeholders and while the EU has made this facility available, the original deadline will be maintained in Scotland,” a spokesman said.

“We are seeing good take up of the application process this year, particularly compared to previous years and we would encourage all customers to submit their applications as soon as possible to avoid risking disallowances.”

Meanwhile NFU Scotland has issued a reminder to farmers to include maps of their Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) with their application.

NFU Scotland’s combinable crops policy manager, Peter Loggie, said the map was a “supporting document” which must also be submitted by the deadline.

He added: “If the EFA map is missing, the result can be a total loss of the whole greening element because it is deemed that the application for greening has not been made on time.”

From this year, a penalty can also be applied, even if all EFA rules have been complied with on the ground.

Peter Loggie.

Phil Hogan.