£80m convergence cash ‘aimed at marginal areas’

With the UK government’s cheque for the first instalment of the compensation promised for the long-running convergence saga now “in the post”, the Scottish Government yesterday outlined how it intends to distribute the cash to farmers.

And while the details of the delivery mechanism to be used for the share-out will not be available until later today, rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing said the majority of the initial £80 million would be focused on those who farm in the country’s marginal uplands, hill farms and island areas – and payments should be on-farm before the end of March.

The funding is the first tranche of the £160m package which the UK government has agreed to pay in order to rectify what has been termed a “historic wrong” relating to EU common agricultural policy funding that it failed to pass on to Scotland between 2014-2020 – which was awarded following a sustained campaign by the Scottish Government, politicians and industry stakeholders.

“In allocating this funding, I am conscious of the need to adhere to the spirit and original premise of convergence,” said Ewing who said he wanted to

ensure that the money went to where it was originally intended – with the majority going to producers in region 2 and region 3 areas.

“This funding will also meet my commitment to maintain support for farmers and crofters in the less favoured areas.”

Stressing that the payments would go to active producers, he said the move would help the

industry in a time of uncertainty caused by Brexit.

While there had been no official consultation on how the money would be spent, Ewing thanked those who had made suggestions on how best to allocate the funds- and a spokesman added that the targeting of the second tranche would be decided on delivery of the funding.