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Less favoured areas support scheme - study of lang quality
25/01/2001
The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute has been commissioned to investigate ways in which land quality could form part of a new land classification system, the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department announced today.
The project will evaluate the effect of land quality, as evidenced by vegetation cover, on potential support systems in the less-favoured areas. It will also highlight the extent of permanent pasture and rough grazings.
The results of the study may be taken into account in refinements to the area-based scheme for LFA support.
The project team will report their findings to SERAD by the end of July 2001.
BACKGROUND
1. European Commission Regulation 1257/1999 requires that support arrangements for less-favoured areas (LFAs) must be on the basis of land area. The MLURI undertook a scoping study last year which appeared to indicate how land quality could be used as part of an area-based payment regime. This study was undertaken on a small anonimised sample of farms hence the need to undertake a much wider study.
2. The work to be undertaken by MLURI is in the nature of research and the results will add to the advice available to SERAD as to how the existing LFA Support Scheme might be refined in the future.
News Release: SE0148/2001
25 Jan 2001