Commission meetings also reveal land eligibility flexibility
After two days of meetings in Brussels with Commission officials, NFU Scotland has committed to working proactively with Europe on identifying CAP delivery options for those in Scotland’s rough grazing region (RGR).
The Union’s President, Nigel Miller, was in Brussels after Commissioner Ciolos indicated last week that Scottish farmers were to be denied greater coupling options under new CAP arrangements. That contradicted previous verbal commitments from the Commissioner and left Scottish farmers angered and disappointed.
NFU Scotland’s President Nigel Miller wrote to Commissioner Ciolos at the end of last week and very quickly arranged meetings with the Commission to look at potential solutions to make best use of the pot of funding available those who farm in Scotland’s RGR.
Discussions with Commission officials also opened up the possibility of building greater flexibility into recording land eligibility in our hills and uplands. NFU Scotland has had a long running campaign calling for a more pragmatic approach to land eligibility that would soften the need for hill farmers to undertake complex mapping exercises. Indications are that such an approach may be possible under the new CAP package.
Speaking after the meetings, Nigel Miller said:
“Last week’s announcement on coupling was a bombshell which meant that getting to Brussels to meet officials was a priority because time is running out for Scotland to finalise its CAP implementation plans.
“The coupling announcement left Scotland without the necessary targeting options to provide appropriate levels of support to Scottish farmers in fragile areas using the pot of funding allocated to our rough grazing region (RGR).
“These quickly arranged meetings were an opportunity to highlight the real challenge of delivering an area payment in hill land where the proposed system will create some big winners but could also devastate some flocks where grazing intensity is higher. We mapped out those scenarios and demonstrated that there are a range of flock densities and holding sizes that would be severely impacted by this single area payment approach
“While we are still some way from identifying a solution to that issue, Commission officials are now far clearer on the huge problem we face in delivering support to our producers in the RGR and why we need a more targeted approach if we are to make best use of funds.
“I believe Commission officials are now proactively looking at our problem and there is an appreciation that this needs to be addressed. There was discussion around the use of coefficients to allow differing payment rates within the RGR and the level of flexibility that exists within the regulation. We also discussed the potential for a collaborative approach from the UK and Scottish Governments to gain more flexibility for targeting.
“In the next 24 to 48 hours, I have committed to provide Commission officials with a briefing to move this debate along and I will copy that to the Scottish and UK Governments. It is imperative we make some progress on this before Europe shuts down for Easter.
“That briefing will contain further figures and data on our RGR to allow the Commission to better understand how budgets need to be applied and examine if politicians have covered all the options available should they adopt a more collaborative approach.
“The meeting also threw up some very useful insight into how land eligibility may be applied in the future to support claims relating to our permanent pasture and hill type land – a significant issue for many producers in recent times.
“The Union has written to – and met with – the Commission in the past looking for a route to managing claims on extensive areas without the strict requirement for detailed mapping and a threat of swingeing penalties for errors. The Union had asked the EC to recognise the mapping challenges and also the value of giving applicants an incentive to maintain diverse ecological features on grazing and hill land where under present eligibility criteria there is an incentive to remove them.
“It appears our proposal may have gained traction within the detailed CAP Reform regulations. We will now pick up with the Scottish Government how we could apply this valuable break in approach.”
