The Scottish Government has warned that extending the deadline for agri-environment applications would have “serious repercussions”.
Last week a north-east consultant warned that farmers and advisers were struggling to submit both their Single Application Forms (SAF) and applications for the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS).
The AECS form must be submitted by June 12, while the SAF is due in on June 15.
In response, the Scottish Government has pledged to keep the situation under review but warned that any shift in deadline would have a knock-on effect on the rest of the CAP delivery.
A spokeswoman said: “We are doing all we can to ensure Pillar 1 payments go out as early as possible, and we need time to complete all processes on the AECS cases themselves before January 1.
“We will keep the situation under review, but any shift in deadline would have serious repercussions for the rest of CAP delivery.”
She said that as of last Friday only 11 completed AECS applications had been received, while 222 applications were in draft format online.
“We are also issuing over 200 new contracts to farmers whose previous contracts are expiring, to ensure continuity of management in support of high environmental priorities,” added the spokeswoman.
AECS is part of the five-year £1.3bn Scottish Rural Development Programme. The budget for AECS between 2014 and 2020 is £350m.