Scottish farming will be left at a distinct competitive disadvantage if Westminster does not elect to send a 230 million euro slice of extra EU funding in Scotland’s direction.
That was the message from NFU Scotland president Nigel Miller, who spoke out following the revelation the UK is in line to receive a chunk of additional CAP funding, courtesy of Scotland’s rough grazing, but that its distribution lies entirely in the hands of Westminster.
On Monday, Scotland’s political parties announced they had reached a rare consensus that this additional CAP funding, which could see an extra 60 million euros a year in EU farming subsidy reach the UK, should be allocated in its entirety north of the border.
They wrote a cross-party letter to Defra Secretary Owen Paterson to request the full allocation of the funds as a result.
“It is increasingly clear that maintaining direct farm support at a level that can sustain current levels of production in Scotland will be difficult post 2015,” said Mr Miller.
“Without bolstering, the budget will deliver a low payment per hectare that will put Scottish farming at a competitive disadvantage both within the UK and at an EU level.”
The additional CAP funding, or ‘convergence uplift’, was created as part of CAP reform as a mechanism intended to level the playing field between EU member states.
The UK is set to benefit from the additional funding courtesy of Scotland’s very low payment-per-area basis ground. “Ahead of last week’s CAP debate at Holyrood, NFU Scotland met with political parties to discuss Scotland’s priorities,” said Mr Miller.
“That included the need to get the right budget deal from Westminster,” he said.
“In mapping out his vision for CAP reform during the debate, the Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead highlighted key reform options but also laid the foundations for a cross-party consensus on budget convergence.
“The resultant cross-party statement is of genuine value to Scottish farming, strips politics out of the debate and builds pressure on Westminster pressure to act and commit to an EU convergence process which would create a level playing field within the UK and put Scottish farmers on a road that would see them achieve a greater degree of equivalence in support terms with farmers across the EU,” said Mr Miller.
He said the route to securing a positive way forward for Scotland’s diverse agricultural sector out of imminent UK decisions on CAP “will not be easily won, but our politicians have made a bold bid to influence that process”.