Plea to secure £61million of LFA aid

Minister and NFU stress need for support to continue as consultation closes on shake-up plan

By Joe Watson

Published:

The European Commission has been told to take account of unique Scottish circumstances as it decides the future of £61million in support payments paid out annually to more than 13,000 farmers and crofters.

Separate pleas were made yesterday by NFU Scotland and Rural Affairs Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead in response to the commission’s controversial plans to reform less-favoured area (LFA) support across the EU from 2010.

The planned shake-up stems from concerns by European auditors that many member states have taken advantage of the LFA rules to secure millions of pounds of extra support for tens of thousands of farmers who fall outwith the standard geographic and climatic entry qualifications.

Currently 58% of farmland in the EU is designated LFA, including all of Luxembourg. France also gets LFA support for Guiana in South America and Martinque and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.

But the proposals could threaten Scottish aid and put upland and island producers at a further disadvantage.

The union and Mr Lochhead both stressed the need for LFA support to continue unhindered in their submissions as the commission’s consultation on its plan closed.

Mr Lochhead reminded the commission that 85% of Scotland is designated LFA under existing rules.

He added: “Some 13,000 farming and crofting businesses rely on LFAs to offset the significant physical and climatic handicaps faced.

“It is vital that the unique position of Scotland is heard in Europe to ensure the maintenance of traditional agricultural landscapes.

“I have written directly to the commission and will continue to stress Scotland's unique position and the relevance of this scheme to our agriculture sector.”

NFU Scotland bluntly told Eurocrats there was no need to reclassify the LFA and that it should restore several entry qualifications such as remoteness, low service provision and distance to market to the rules.

It also deeply criticised planned soil and climatic rules on heat and drought that favoured Mediterranean nations, rather than those in northern Europe.

It called for the status quo and asked the commission to ask all member states to re-classify LFAs according to national indicators of natural handicaps.

NFU head of rural policy Jonnie Hall added: “The LFA is of crucial importance to Scotland’s agriculture and its rural areas and it underpins farming businesses in many areas, enabling them in turn to play their key role in rural development.

“Extensive farming in many remote and upland areas supports a host of economic, environmental and social aspects of rural Scotland. Yet, farming and crofting in such locations remain marginal in every sense, constrained by a harsh climate, steep slopes and poor soils, and continue to be pressurised by many economic and social influences.”

Mr Hall said officials had to recognise that active farming in the LFA underpinned the economic, social and environmental fabric of rural areas and delivered enormous public good in shaping the landscape.

Commission officials will now study all the responses.

They are due to come back with firm proposals later this year.