The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Expert group deciding on weather aid applications
AN EXPERT group will begin considering applications for the Scottish Government’s weather aid later today.
Following the snowstorms in March, Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead announced that £6 million would be made available to those farmers worst hit.
Since then doubts have swirled around, with some commentators saying farmers would be reluctant to apply for aid and others taking the view that £6m was not nearly enough to compensate for the losses.
It seems the position is somewhere in the middle, with almost 1,000 applications for aid received by the deadline.
The next step will start today with the Scottish Government’s chief agricultural officer, Drew Sloan, chairing a meeting of the WeatherAid Expert Group in Edinburgh to begin considering the requests.
Due to the number and variety of applications received, individual funding allocations are unlikely to be decided immediately. An official statement said they “will be announced in due course”.
At first glance the allocation looks easy, with 958 applicants competing for £6m. This would on average give them £6,263 each. European Union de minimis rules dictate that no single applicant can receive more than 7,500 euros, currently worth £6,375, in member state aid, so the two figures look like a neat match.
However, it is unlikely to work out that way, according to Government sources. Not every applicant will have a robust enough case to back their claim and some may be rejected altogether.
To complicate matters there is the possibility that the Scottish Government could apply for a block exemption to allow the de minimis rules to be modified.
Early analysis indicates about half of the applications received are from the south west of Scotland, and most applications relate to loss of livestock.
Applications are only relevant where producers have lost 10% or more of breeding ewes or lambs put to the ram.
Those who have 20% or above fewer lambs reared this year from equivalent breeding stock numbers will also qualify, as will those who have lost 5% or more of other breeding livestock, primarily cattle.
Those cattle farmers with 10% fewer calves than normal from the equivalent breeding stock will be eligible, as will arable farmers who had to re-sow more than 20% of an arable crop.
Mr Lochhead said: “Scottish Government acted swiftly to provide immediate assistance through the Fallen Stock Fund as well as longer-term support, and our £6m Weather Aid scheme has now received some 958 requests for funding.
“The expert group will begin considering the numerous and varied applications today. It is important that the group prioritises those farmers who were hardest hit — taking into account EU state aid rules — and I look forward to hearing its funding decisions in due course.”
NFU Scotland president Nigel Miller, a member of the Weather Aid expert group, said: “Given the exceptional conditions, NFU Scotland made a robust case to the Scottish Government on the need for assistance to be made available, and the fact that almost 1,000 farming families from across Scotland have applied justifies our approach for help.
“Scottish Government must be congratulated for the package it pulled together to recognise the difficulties being faced.
“The reality for many farming businesses is that losses endured in the past year or 18 months — whether livestock or croprelated — may mean that it is into 2014 before genuine recovery can be expected, and the support that is available to those successful applicants to the Weather Aid scheme will provide a very welcome cushion to cashflows as we approach harvest and sale time in the autumn.
“That cushion is needed. We know from membership surveys that the majority of Scottish farmers have already had to extend their level of borrowing in the past six months. Farming is inherently a low-risk industry and banks must continue to show commitment to financing farmers at this time and help them bridge their businesses into next year.”