Single Farm Payments - NFUS Press Release

UNION GEARS UP FOR BIG DEBATE ON SFP FUTURE

NFU Scotland is gearing up for the next big debate for Scottish agriculture, which will look at the way support is delivered to Scotland’s farmers and crofters in the future.

With the ink barely dry on the recent Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Health Check, the Scottish Government has already announced that prominent agricultural businessman Brian Pack will head up a review into Scotland’s Single Farm Payment (SFP) scheme. The SFP scheme is main vehicle for delivering CAP support to more than 20,000 Scottish farmers and crofters and is worth around £480 million annually. The lifespan of the current CAP agreement will run until 2013.

An interim report from Mr Pack’s review team is expected to be with the Scottish Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead this winter with the final report due in spring 2010.

Speaking at the Highland Show, taking place at Ingliston near Edinburgh this week, NFU Scotland President Jim McLaren said:
“Although 2013 may seem distant, the reality is that timetables are actually incredibly tight and the work that takes place in the coming six months involving discussions in Brussels and the Pack report will shape Scottish farming for many years to come.

“The CAP is now the only true common policy that operates across the whole of Europe. The reasons behind the establishment of the CAP – to ensure adequate supplies of affordable, fresh, safe food to European consumers and to deliver sustainable returns to farmers – remain as valid now as they did when the CAP was founded on the back of the Treaty of Rome in 1957.

“CAP has adapted and changed over the years and, in recent times, delivery of CAP has largely been determined at Member State or regional level. The CAP reform agreed in June 2003 saw Scotland decide to deliver SFP based on business decisions farmers and crofters had made in previous years. As time moves on, basing public support on decisions made almost a decade ago becomes more difficult to justify. In that regard, Europe’s agricultural commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel has given a clear steer that she wishes to see all support move to an area basis by 2013.

“Scotland’s own destiny on CAP is largely in our own hands and will undoubtedly be influenced by the recommendations that emerge in the Pack report. We look forward to meeting with Brian and his team in the coming weeks.

“As a Union, it is crucial that we engage with all our members on what will be fundamental changes to the way they receive support in the future. We know from recent discussions that ensuring support goes to those who are active and contributing to Scotland’s food production is uppermost in their minds and securing that guarantee will present challenges.


“To ensure activity is the focus for support, we need to have a firm grasp on what is and what is not allowed in terms of the way support can be delivered. We intend to be in Brussels in the coming weeks to discuss with Commission officials our emerging thinking on the future for SFP in Scotland and see where that fits within the complex rules that surround CAP.”