A north-east farmer has topped the UK list for those receiving subsidies from the European Union under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payment system.
Frank Smart of Frank A Smart and Son Ltd, who owns a number of farms near Banchory, Aberdeenshire, claimed almost £3million from the system in 2015.
In 2014, the Press and Journal revealed how Mr Smart had raked in £9million over the previous three years from controversial subsidy payments.
The new CAP agreement sees farmers given subsidies from the EU depending on how much land they own.
Mr Smart, who received 3,963,732.77 from the scheme, has been described as a “slipper farmer” because he buys farming land and then lets them out to be farmed by other people.
Chief Executive of the National Farmers Union in Scotland, Scott Walker, said it was time the payments were directed more towards active food producers rather than linked to land ownership.
He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “It’s a million miles away from what most farmers recognise the situation to be.
“If you’re a sheep farmer on the west coast of Scotland struggling to survive, your subsidies are vital to allow you to keep producing.
“If you’re a cereal farmer on the east coast of Scotland, where the price of the market won’t actually return the price of what it’s cost you to produce cereals, you desperately need your subsidies.
“There’s one or two individuals that use the system and found loopholes in the system to maximise their returns, but as I say, it’s a million miles away from the situation that most farmers and crofters find themselves in.”
When approached, sole director and shareholder Mr Smart said: “I don’t want to discuss any part of my business with the media, thank you.”
