Scottish Government provides funding for farm carbon audits

EVERY Scottish farmer needs to start measuring carbon – and the Scottish Government is now offering £500 to help each of them get on with it.

In the near future, farm support cash will be conditional on farmers providing reliable information on their carbon outputs and soil health – but before such a system can be put in place, farmers must first begin measuring these essential new metrics.

To that end, phase one, track one of Scotland’s National Test Programme – Scotgov’s £51 million, three-year mission to prepare the industry for a new era of farm support – will provide farmers, crofters and land managers £500 towards the cost of a carbon audit. Once that audit is in place, a further claim can be made to fund soil analysis.

Suckler beef producers are also receiving access to Yourherdstats, a new online tool within the SCOTEID system that will present herd management information and highlight opportunities for further improvement.

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “We want Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture and our farmers, crofters and land managers have a crucial role to play in helping us meet our climate emissions and nature restoration targets. We have been clear in our commitment to supporting farmers and crofters to produce more of our food more sustainably which will ultimately help make our food system more resilient.”

Ms Gougeon stressed that Scotgov would continue to support active farming and food production with direct payments – but there would be ‘enhanced conditionality’ regarding carbon and biodiversity.

“Many are already leading the way having carried out carbon audits and soil sampling work but we are offering support to encourage all farmers and crofters to undertake this,” she said.

“I want to encourage all eligible people to make a claim once the portal is open and take the next step towards the future of Scottish agriculture. We have made the claims process as simple and straightforward as possible and it can be completed and accessed online. Anyone who requires any support with making a claim should contact their local RPID area office.”

Scottish farmers, crofters and agricultural contractors based in Scotland can claim for the grant if they are registered for funding with SGRPID, and have a Rural Payments and Services user name and password.