First hint at plans for £90m convergence cash

Whilst issuing a health warning that the figures are indicative only, the Scottish Government has revealed “ball park” figures for the level of the top-up payments which farmers can expect to receive from the first £90 million tranche of the convergence payment award.

And with the roll-out of the convergence payments set to be finished by the end of March, producers in Region 1 can expect to get an additional Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) award of around ££15.86 a hectare, those in Region 2 £28.03 a ha and for Region 3 the figure is expected to be close to £11.87 per ha.

This means that the total top-up is likely to see this year’s BPS payments – including the monies already paid out under the loan scheme and any balance due – for producers in Region 1 stand at around £234.07, a rise of 7 per cent; for Region 2 land, producers will receive a total of close to £71.25 a ha, a rise of 65 per cent; and for those in Region 3 the figure will stand at £24.80, an overall increase of 92 per cent.

Expressed as global figures, Region 1 will receive a total top up of £26m, Region 2 will receive an additional £21m and Region 3 payments will rise by 15m.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government yesterday confirmed the figures – but stressed that they were the result of modelling and gave only an approximation of average payment rates to give farmers some idea of what to expect as the figures had to be validated and circumstances of each individual business would be different, adding that a cap of £55,000 would be levied on this element of the payments.

He also stated that the figures did not include the £13m which had been allocated to cover the shortfall in less favoured area support (LFAS) payments, nor the £15m which would be used to top up the beef calf and upland ewe schemes.

The latter two elements would see a rise of £31.21 for mainland calf payments and £46.54 for eligible calves on the islands – along with a £21 a head increase for eligible animals in the upland sheep scheme.

With a total award of £160m being made to compensate Scottish farmers for being unfairly treated in the allocation of the original EU convergence funds, a second tranche of £70m will be paid out in 2021.

However, while the official lines remains “no decision has yet been taken”, with a shortfall of £42m in LFAS payments for this year’s scheme – which will be paid in 2021 – the majority of the cash Is likely to be spent in this area, meaning any area-based top-up is likely to be small next year.