Farm payments hit bank accounts early

NEARLY £330mn of support payments have now been made to more than 14,200 Scottish farm businesses.

The Scottish Government stated that the early payments came in response to sharp rises in energy, fuel and fertiliser costs for the agriculture sector, prompting legislative changes to allow early payment of rural support schemes.

Earlier in the summer, 11 farming and rural organisations wrote to the Rural Affairs Secretary calling for Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and ‘greening’ support to hit farmer bank accounts as soon as possible.

Initially, the Scottish Government had intended payments to start arriving from mid-October, with a target to reach 70% expenditure by December 31, 2022 – which has now been surpassed three months early, with over 78% paid out.

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “I am acutely aware that businesses across Scotland are facing a hugely challenging increase in their bills and we have moved quickly to help relieve inflationary pressures and protect jobs across our world-leading food and drink sector.

“We announced in June that farm payment dates would be brought forward to September in an effort to support Scotland’s farmers with cash flow and the cost of living crisis and we have delivered on our promise,” said Ms Gougeon.

“The first tranche of payments have substantially exceeded forecasts and are significantly ahead of previous years.”

Annually, the Scottish Government pays out around £420m through the BPS and Greening payments.

This year, the Scottish Government’s accelerated payment strategy will see a transition away from providing farmers with manual interest-free ‘loans’ to automated advance payments from the actual schemes.