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Support scheme for farmers
24/10/2007
Scottish farmers were today urged not to miss the opportunity of applying for a share in more than £60 million offered by the Less Favoured Area Scheme.
Around 13,000 Scottish farmers may be eligible and have until November 16 to apply.
Unlike previous years, a separate application must be made for Less Favoured Area Support - previously covered under the Single Farm Payment Scheme application.
Farmers, most of whom will receive their application forms by post, are urged not to be complacent and to give their application early attention.
Those who have not received an application form by the end of October should contact their area office, where application forms are available.
Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, said:
"Scottish farmers, particularly hill farmers, have been through a particularly difficult period and I urge them to ensure they do not miss out on this support scheme.
"While forms will automatically be issued to those paid in last year's scheme, this is also an opportunity for producers who have not applied for support before to do so. Although this is a historically based scheme, there may be eligible farmers not yet making use of the LFASS scheme.
"New applicants who believe they could qualify for the scheme and those who have not received applications by the end of October should contact their Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate area office."
LFASS is a historic based scheme and to qualify, producers who haven't claimed before must have claimed land in their Single Application Form (SAF) 2007 which carries a LFASS grazing category, and which contributed to an LFASS payment to a producer under the 2006 scheme. New applicants who believe they may qualify should request an application form from their area office.
All applicants should make sure that forms are submitted directly to area offices and that they obtain a receipt.
Applications received after November 16 will incur a penalty, and those received beyond December 11 will be rejected.
Payments, subject to EC approval, are expected to start around the end of the year with the vast majority being paid by the end of January 2008.
LFASS is an area based payment made to eligible producers actively farming at least 3 hectares of Scottish LFA forage land. 85 per cent of Scottish agricultural land is classified as LFA and the scheme will be worth around £61 million per annum to around 13,000 eligible producers in the years 2007 - 2009.
Producers must have submitted the Single Application Form (SAF) which declared LFA land with a LFASS grazing category by the closing date earlier this year and, for 2007 only, they must also submit a separate LFASS application form.
From 2008, the Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate (RPID) aims to include the LFASS application as a tick in the Single Application Form (SAF), as in the past.