Livestock areas at risk from CAP reform changes, says NFU

FARMERS in one of Scotland’s most productive counties, Dumfries and Galloway, could lose millions of pounds in income under Scotland’s imminent implementation of Common Agricultural Policy reform.

As Scotland enters the final stages in deciding how its new support schemes will be delivered, the National Farmers Union Scotland met this week with the region’s politicians and councillors to outline what is at stake.

Dumfries and Galloway is home to 41% of Scotland’s dairy cows — 182,000 in total; 19% of the country’s beef cows (85,000); and 15% of its ewe flock (381,000).

Much of that livestock farming activity is underpinned by direct support from the EU. Farmers’ share of that was originally allocated on a stock headage basis, but under pressure to phase out market-distorting subsidies, the EU has been seeking to ‘decouple’ agricultural support from actual production and base it instead on the area farmed.

For the last decade, a transitional Single Farm Payment, calculated on a historical average of past coupled subsidies, has been in place, but its days are now numbered as Europe pushes towards a full transition to areabased payments.

The detail of how this will be done in Scotland is still under discussion — but the cost of getting it wrong could have huge implications for the economy of highly-stocked regions like D&G.

A significant reduction in support could trigger a scale back in production, with ramifications for the many other businesses in the region that are reliant upon a thriving agricultural economy.

To highlight their concerns, beef, dairy and sheep farmers from across the region met with local politicians at Barnbackle Farm, Lochfoot, near Dumfries, run by NFU Scotland’s D&G regional chairman Andrew McCornick. He said the decisions taken will have huge implications for the rural economy, and added: “Given the scale of livestock and dairy production here in Dumfries and Galloway, a good CAP deal will set up our region for the foreseeable future — but a poor deal on future support will have ramifications for businesses, supply chains and local economies.

“In a worst-case scenario, the region’s farmers could lose out on tens of millions in support over the next five years. That would undoubtedly have knock-on effects for the many local businesses upstream and downstream who are reliant on farmers, putting jobs on the line.”