Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Agriculture support bill closer to final approval

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing
Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing

Legislation which will ensure farmers continue to receive financial support while Scotland transitions to its own post-Brexit agricultural policy has passed stage three in the Scottish Parliament.

The Agriculture (Retained EU Law and Data) (Scotland) Bill was heralded by the farmers’ union as a key step towards creating stability and certainty for the industry.

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said it would allow the Scottish Government to streamline, simplify and free up resources to pilot schemes that might feature in future rural support policy.

Mr Ewing said: “The ongoing uncertainty of Brexit and the impact of coronavirus show how important it is to give our farmers and crofters financial stability in the next few years. This bill is the first step to ensure that we secure the ability to continue to operate CAP schemes from 2021 – this includes the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme, Knowledge Transfer and Innovation and Small Farmers Grant Scheme.”

Mr Ewing said he would continue to press the UK Government to adhere to its commitment that EU funding would be replaced and made it clear Scotland will not move to a new agricultural policy until 2024.

NFU Scotland (NFUS) president Andrew McCornick said the powers created by the bill must be used to best effect.

He added: “The transition period to 2024 and the work of the Farming and Food Production Future Policy Group, created last year and expected to report this autumn, will help define the direction of travel for future policy.

“The passage of this important legislation has been punctuated by the Covid-19 crisis, which has demonstrated the vital contribution of Scotland’s farmers, crofters and growers.”