SCOTLAND’S GROWERS are being pinched between poor market returns and costly new EU ‘greening’ regulations – but the Scottish Government has the power to make at least the latter less painful.

In a meeting with ScotGov officials, the National Farmers Union Scotland asked that they look again at the domestic implementation of greening to see what further steps might be taken to prevent these issues from compromising food production and the viability of Scotland’s growers.

In particular, suggested the union, these steps could include removing the ‘gold-plating’ of rules – the instances where ScotGov has taken the basic EU greening regime and bolstered it with unnecessary and onerous local add-ons.

There was also flexibility, available from Europe, to introduce equivalence measures and conversion factors that would help get recognition for current Scottish agricultural practices that meet the general intent of EU greening requirements, but are not currently counted towards each farm’s compliance with the new support regime.

Speaking after the meeting, NFU Scotland’s director of policy Jonnie Hall said: “Like every other sector, our growers are currently toiling under volatile prices and challenging weather.

“However, they have the additional burden of carrying much of the ‘greening’ responsibility for Scotland under the terms of the new CAP schemes. That has added cost and complexity to our growers’ businesses and Scottish Government is in a position to ease the pressure.

“Commissioner Hogan’s simplification agenda will be limited in its scope to improve the current CAP. That is why it is imperative that Scottish Government look again at domestic implementation of greening and cross-compliance to see what further steps might be taken to prevent these from further compromising food production and the viability of the cropping sector.

“We know that greening, as an important element of CAP, is here to stay, but the Scottish Government has the opportunity to ensure that any measures it introduces are compatible with profitable agriculture,” he said.

“Scotland’s greening package contains elements of gold plating compared to European requirements – the rules around the management of nitrogen fixing crops are a good example – and these need to be stripped out. The introduction of equivalence measures would benefit both farmers and those SGRPID staff charged with delivery and inspection of greening rules.

“Similarly, we continue to question the legality of new cross-compliance rules restricting the cultivation of land within two metres of a hedge.

“Looking forward, growers want straightforward and clearer guidance that can be better understood so they can cope with the twin challenges of greening and declining market returns,” stressed Mr Hall. “Going into any season, it is crucial our growers know what their options are and can work within their own farming systems to ensure the impact of greening on our abilities to produce food is minimal.”

For in-depth news and views on Scottish agriculture, see this Friday’s issue of The Scottish Farmer or visit www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk