Douglas MacSkimming
NFU SCOTLAND will meet Scottish Government officials this week to try and hammer out a deal over the controversial greening measures of the new CAP.
At a press briefing in Edinburgh, NFUS president Allan Bowie re-iterated his view that the government’s failure to address 'gold-plated' rules around CAP greening measures had become “disappointingly ponderous”.
“I thought AgriScot would have left the Cabinet Secretary and his officials in no doubt about the strength of feeling amongst grassroots farmers about the damage that his gold-plated approach to greening rules has generated," said Mr Bowie.
“But another week has gone by and we have had no official response to the long list of greening concerns that we have been bringing to its door for almost 24 months. Combined with the Scottish Government’s costly and ongoing difficulties on support payment delivery, it is fair to say that farmer frustration with policymakers is building daily.
“ It is within the Scottish Government’s gift to make a difference to those farming the land by stripping out the additional greening requirements it has imposed on producers and let them compete on the same playing field as other producers in the UK and across Europe.
“When I have discussions with producers in other member states, they rightly view Scotland as one of the greenest countries in Europe and are astonished at our own government’s drive to heap more and more requirements on our farmers."
“That said, commissioner Hogan’s drawn out approach to delivering simplification of the CAP is equally frustrating," he added.
“When the Commissioner accepted our invitation to visit an East Lothian farm this summer, the desperate need for him and his officials to simplify the rule book was top of our list of priorities. While we welcome his acceptance of the need for change the timetable shows a worrying lack of urgency and the reality that there will be no discernible benefit from this review for Scottish farmers until 2017."
“As if trying to generate a fair return from producing food isn’t difficult enough at this time, politicians and policymakers in Scotland and Europe need to wake up and realise that their approach to rules and requirements is hindering food production at this time.”
The union’s priorities for changes to greening rules and simplification are that the Scottish Government should remove additional requirements imposed on the Nitrogen Fixing Crop (NFC) Ecological Focus Areas (EFA) option – especially the new requirements to have more than one NFC crop and to ‘surround’ it with a field margin.
It also wants ScotGov to take advantage of the flexibility available under the existing legislation to make full use of the conversion factors for field margins and buffer strips, and the option to allowing buffer strips to be grazed.
For in-depth news and views on Scottish agriculture, see this Friday’s issue of The Scottish Farmer or visit www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk
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