Farmer tops EU money list with subsidies totalling £3m
Millions in aid for landowners but tenants and crofters are struggling
AN ABERDEENSHIRE farmer has topped the list of UK recipients of European farming subsidies, which includes the Queen, the Duke of Westminster, the Duke of Northumberland, the Earl of Moray and a Saudi prince.
The two large estates owned by leading pro-Brexit campaigner Sir James Dyson, under Beeswax Farming (Rainbow) Ltd, received almost £1.5 million from Europe.
But that was only half the cheque for Frank Smart, who owns farms near Banchory in Aberdeenshire.
He claimed almost £3m under the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) last year. It is not the first time he has been awarded the most public support.
The Herald reported Mr Smart was the biggest recipient in 2009 of the then Single Farm Payment scheme under CAP, collecting more than £1.21m. In 2013 he received £3.22m.
Mr Smart, or his company Frank A Smart & Son Ltd, received CAP grants of more than £2.96m last year. He is one of a group described as “slipper farmers”. They buy farms with their subsidy entitlement, which they keep while letting them out to tenant farmers who do not enjoy the same public support. But critics say the owners do little or any actual farming, instead keeping their slippers on.
It is not illegal, but has been heavily criticised – not least by farmers and crofters who struggle to get by, even when their subsidies arrive in time.
Mr Smart has rarely if ever talked publicly of his approach to farming. The Herald has repeatedly tried to contact him without success down the years. But he did tell the BBC: “I don’t want to discuss any part of my business with the media, thank you.” Changes have been made and support for slipper farmers is being phased out. However until 2020 they will still earn significant amounts. By that time the UK could be leaving the EU.
Chief executive of NFU Scotland, Scott Walker, said “That’s why we are talking to government now about future agriculture policy.”
He said there should be no place in any post-Brexit subsidy system for slipper farmers: “The doors are being firmly closed on them. But because this is the first year of new rules that are being phased in, it is going to take a bit of time.
“Talk of farmers getting millions of pounds of CAP support is a million miles away from the reality of what the vast majority of Scottish farmers and crofters receive through CAP schemes.”
He said public subsidy should be to support food production and despite the CAP support, farm incomes had halved in the past four years
Highlands and Islands Green MSP John Finnie said of the subsidy claims: “These are astonishing figures that just do not reflect the true picture of crofting and farming at the moment.”
Greenpeace analysed the recipients of CAP subsidies in the UK for the first time and found 16 of the top 100 are owned or controlled by individuals or families who feature on the 2016 Sunday Times Rich List. They received a total of £10.6m last year in single payment scheme subsidies alone, and £13.4m in total farm subsidies.