The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
NFUS calls for £160m to be paid as extra top-ups
Subsidies: Convergence uplift ‘should be paid out under Pillar 1 of CAP’
NFU Scotland (NFUS) has called for £160 million of additional farm funding to be distributed as top-up payments through existing direct support payment schemes.
The farming union’s proposals call for the additional funds, known as convergence uplift, to be paid out through existing schemes under Pillar 1 of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Convergence uplift is additional CAP funding allocated to the UK to bring Scotland’s per-hectare subsidy average up.
At the time of its allocation, not all the money came to Scotland and last month Chancellor Sajid Javid vowed to “correct that decision” by awarding £160m to Scots farmers.
NFUS wants the majority of the additional funds to be distributed on a oneoff basis through top-up payments to the three land regions in the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), including greening and young farmer payments, and through the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS) and the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme.
It calls for top-up payments of £62.13 a hectare for Region 1 land, £22.15 a hectare for Region 2 land, and £13.46 a hectare for Region 3 land. The union has called for a 33% increase in the SSBSS budget to £53.13m, which based on 2018 claims would result in payments of £195 per island calf and £130 per mainland calf.
It has also called for a 32% increase in the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme budget to £9.5m, resulting in payments of around £89 per ewe hogg.
NFUS president Andrew McCornick said the proposals had been agreed by the union’s board of directors, which reflects all regions and agricultural sectors in Scotland.
“We believe that any new Pillar 1 funding must mean Pillar 1 delivery,” added Mr McCornick.
“Given the very real challenges facing the viability of farms and crofts across Scotland, the additional funding must be exclusively retained as direct support and delivered on a sectorneutral basis through existing Scottish schemes to have effective and desired impact.”