Disagreement rules on where cash should go

Comment: Convergence money divides opinions

Farm leaders are at loggerheads over the way extra farm funding should be spent.

The return of £160 million convergence uplift funding to Scotland has been widely welcomed. However farming organisations all have different opinions on how the money should be used.

“Convergence uplift” is additional Common

Agricultural Policy funding allocated to the UK to bring Scotland’s per-hectare subsidy average up.

In announcing his plans on how to spend the first tranche of the money, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy Fergus Ewing said £80m would be mainly given to those it was originally intended for. However all eligible producers would receive a share of the support.

The majority of the money will go to those on Regions 2 and 3 land, while also plugging the shortfall in Less Favoured Areas

Support Scheme (LFASS) funding which has been cut due to EU legislation.

NFU Scotland criticised the decision to use some of the money to plug the LFASS funding gap, while the Scottish Crofting Federation said crofters were angered that some of the money will go to those on Region 1 land.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Beef Association welcomed the use of convergence funds to top up the LFASS budget, but said area-based payments were ruining productive farming and more money was needed to help crisis-hit beef farmers. The Scottish Tenant Farmers’ Association wants a cap on payments to Regions 2 and 3 land to prevent “undeserved over-compensation”, while Scottish Land and Estates said greater support for young and new entrants could have been delivered.

Mr Ewing has his hands full keeping everyone happy. And let’s not forget the public is watching and industry needs its support more than ever before. Bickering is not the best image for Scottish agriculture.

SURFACE TENSION: It may look peaceful, but where £160m convergence uplift is spent is splitting opinions