WIREDGOV

Less Favoured Area Scheme 2014 payments start.

Thousands of hill farmers and crofters in Scotland’s most fragile and remote areas are set to receive vital support payments by the end of this week.

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead has confirmed 10,000 payments from the Scottish Government’s £65.5 million Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) 2014 will start to arrive in bank accounts by Friday (March 13, 2015).

Farmers and crofters can apply for LFASS 2015 funding, alongside Basic and Greening payments, in their Single Application Form (SAF). Active farmers who did not previously qualify for LFASS may be eligible for support under the 2015 scheme, which is still subject to European approval.

Mr Lochhead said:

“I am pleased to confirm that payments from the Scottish Government’s Less Favoured Area Support Scheme 2014 have now started, with £56.6 million due to reach 88 per cent of claimants in the first week.

“This funding will benefit Scotland’s rural economy, in particular our hard-working farmers and crofters who produce the food we eat, and who are among the most disadvantaged in Europe because of the naturally poor quality of vast majority of agricultural land in this country.

“My officials continue to work hard to ensure the remaining LFASS 2014 payments are made as quickly as possible, and we are firmly focused on making a smooth transition to 2015 scheme payments.

“Although the new Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) is still subject to formal EU approval, the European Commission has indicated it is content with our proposals for LFASS 2015. These include more flexibility when applying the criteria so that established, active farmers who were previously frozen out under the old rules may now qualify for support.

“I would therefore encourage all farmers and crofters to register for the new Rural Payments and Services website as soon as possible so they can apply for LFASS on their SAF when the window opens next week.”

The Rural Affairs Secretary also confirmed that because of EU delays in approving the new SRDP, and the resulting clash with the SAF window, the Forestry Grant Scheme and Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) will now open on Monday March 30, 2015. AECS applications will be accepted until Friday June 12, 2015, while the Forestry Grant Scheme has no closing date.

Mr Lochhead added:

“I have given careful consideration to industry requests for a later closing date for AECS applications and - in recognition of the difficult situation created by the clash with the 2015 SAF - I have decided to postpone this year’s AECS application window by two weeks.

“The AECS window will now open at the end of this month and close in June, four weeks after the SAF window. This will give farmers, crofters and other land managers more time to prepare their applications using the guidance the Scottish Government has already published.

“It would not be possible to have the AECS window closing any later than mid-June for applications to be processed and approved in time for contracts starting on January 1, 2016.

“The continued delay in having our new SRDP approved by Europe is frustrating, but from 2016 we will be able to design SRDP application windows which are convenient for all concerned.”

Mr Lochhead also said that feedback from the European Commission suggests that the Scottish Government is unlikely to be able to add sporting estates to the negative list at this point in time.

He said:

“I am determined that large, sporting estates should not be entitled to receive CAP payments that are intended to support hard-working farmers who produce the food for our tables.

“Although our tough, new minimum activity requirements will make large areas of land ineligible for future direct farm payments, the negative list would be belt and braces and give us an additional insurance policy to ensure only genuine farm businesses who are actively managing the land can receive farm payments.

“We have been advised by the European Commission that current negative list rules would mean that even if a farm that has just one day of sporting activity it would be ineligible for farm payments. This is clearly not acceptable and I will continue to press the Commission on this issue.

“I will continue to press for more flexibility in the system, and for the removal of obstacles that are, at this stage, preventing us from adding sporting estates to the negative list.”

Notes To Editors

The Less Favoured Areas in Scotland represent about 85 per cent of agricultural land. In England, the same land category only accounts for around 15 per cent of the agricultural area.

The Scottish Government’s Less Favoured Area Support Scheme 2014 is worth a total of £65.5 million and has received about 11,300 potentially eligible claims. Approximately 88 per cent of claimants – some 10,000 – are scheduled to receive payments totalling £56.6 million, or 88 per cent of total available funding, by March 13, 2015.

LFASS, AECS and the Forestry Grant Scheme are part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP). The new SRDP that will cover LFASS, AECS and the Forestry Grant Scheme from 2015 is still subject to approval by the European Commission.

The SAF application window will open on or about March 16, 2015 and close on May 15, 2015, as required by EU rules.

Farmers, crofters and land managers must register on the Scottish Government’s new Rural Payments and Services system, which replaces Rural Payments Online. As of Monday March 9, 2015 about 11,000 registrations have been successfully submitted with nearly 10,000 approved. Register online at:https://www.ruralpayments.org

From 2015, established farmers, who did not qualify for LFASS before, may now qualify. This will allow farmers who did not have the right kind of land or stock in 2009, to base historic values on eligible land and eligible livestock they maintained in 2013. Scheme guidance for LFASS 2015 will be available from the Scottish Government website next week: https://www.ruralpayments.org/publicsite/futures/topics/all-schemes/lfass/

The AECS window will open on March 30, 2015 and close on June 12, 2015. The Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS) will open on March 30, 2015 and has no closing date because FGS contracts are not subject to the January 1 start date which applies to AECS.

Farmers and their agents do not need to wait for the AECS window to open to start preparing their applications. Existing guidance already published has information about the options available, how to prepare applications and the supporting material required:https://www.ruralpayments.org/publicsite/futures/topics/all-schemes/agri-environment-climate-scheme. Feedback from farmers during the Scottish Government’s SRDP roadshow indicates that many have already started work on their AECS applications. The scoring system for AECS applications will be published before the application window opens.

Under tough new minimum activity requirements, farmers will need to meet a minimum stocking density of 0.05 livestock units per hectare, or a lower stocking density where justified based on the carrying capacity of the land or the requirements of an agri-environment agreement. Alternatively, farmers will need to carry out a comprehensive multi-species environmental assessment which would require six activities to be carried out up to four times a year covering every hectare being claimed. Detailed guidance on minimum activity rules will be published on Rural Payments and Services next week: https://www.ruralpayments.org