Beef payments begin

15th April 2013

Scottish Beef Scheme funding will begin to arrive in farmers’ bank accounts from Friday, Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead has confirmed.

Around 95 per cent of producers will receive their funding – which is worth around £22 million to the Scottish beef sector – by Wednesday April 24.

Mr Lochhead said:“The Scottish Beef Scheme is an important source of funding for our hard-pressed livestock farmers and I’m sure it will be welcome news that payments begin on Friday.

“Coming hard on the heels of extreme weather in parts of the country, I’m sure the support will be particularly welcome this year and around 7,400 producers will have received their funding by April 24.

“The Scottish Beef Scheme is an example of coupled support in action – providing a valuable incentive for farmers to keep livestock in some of the more challenging terrain and conditions our country. For example, I gave an undertaking when we launched the scheme to target smaller herds by re-weighting of payment rates so that the first ten eligible animals receive three times the payment rate for any subsequent calf. This benefits the majority of claimants farming in these difficult circumstances.

“That’s why the failure to secure the level of coupled payments we wanted in the recent talks in Brussels was so disappointing, particularly as the two-tier system being proposed would leave Scotland unable to spend more than seven per cent, compared to the 12 per cent being offered to other nations. I sincerely hope this is an area which can be addressed in the ongoing CAP reform negotiations.”