Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing has launched the latest round of the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) and revealed that rural businesses have until March 31 to apply for the funding.
The scheme aims to promote low carbon farming and to protect the environment, and since launching in 2015 1,573 applications have been approved committing £103.9m to rural businesses. The AECS 2015 Round approved 579 applications worth £41.8m, while the AECS 2016 Round approved 994 applications worth around £62.1m.
The funding helps to protect vulnerable and iconic species, and improve water quality by reducing diffuse pollution. It will also support organic farming and pay to control flooding through natural risk management. There is also funding available for measures that mitigate against climate change, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and securing carbon stores in peat-lands and other organic soils. Finally, the scheme has options that pay for the preservation of the historic environment and improving public access.
Encouraging rural businesses to apply for this latest round of the AECS Mr Ewing said: "This approach to land management is not only good for the planet, but also good for food producers' pockets. We want Scotland to be a world-class producer of high quality food - sustainably, profitably and efficiently in environmental and economic terms."
While welcoming the latest round of the AECS, NFU Scotland was highly critical of the severe cuts to payment rates for some of the more popular measures. NFUS Director of Policy, Jonnie Hall said: "The good news is that this valuable scheme, which has put millions into the rural economy, is open again for applications, highlighting the tremendous contribution that farmers and crofters make in delivering environmental benefits, biodiversity and stunning landscapes. The sting in the tail is the significant reduction in rates available for some of the more popular measures.
"Rates for retaining winter stubbles have been cut from £299 per hectare to just £69 per hectare. Similarly rates for cutting rush pasture are down from £35 per hectare to £8.45 per hectare and wader grazed grassland is back from £114 per hectare to £80 per hectare.
"Rates should reflect income forgone or additional requirements needed in taking up such measures, and an explanation for such dramatic changes is appropriate. We are only in the third year of the scheme and we would want reassurances that the rates are not being adjusted as a means of delivering budgetary control. If these measures are delivering significant environmental benefits, then there is a case to be made for directing greater resources towards them rather than taking them away."
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