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Less Favoured Area Scheme
01/07/2008
The European Commission must take full account of Scotland's views before reaching decisions on agricultural support, Richard Lochhead said today.
Responding to an EU-wide consultation exercise on the Less Favoured Area Support scheme (LFAs), the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment said:
"Less Favoured Areas are an important feature of land-use in Scotland with 85 per cent of all agricultural land falling under this category.
"Some 13,000 farming and crofting businesses rely on LFAs to off-set the significant physical and climatic handicaps faced.
"It is vital that the unique position of Scotland is heard in Europe to ensure the maintenance of traditional agricultural landscapes.
"I have written directly to the commission and will continue to stress to Scotland's unique position and the relevance of this scheme to our agriculture sector."
The European Commission published for consultation ther Review of the Less Favoured Area Supprt scheme. The Scottish Government and stakeholders have responded to the consultation. The consultation closed on June 30.
The aims of this EU-wide review are:
- To adapt the intermediate LFA delimitation and payment system in order to target the aid to the preservation of sustainable farming activity in areas affected by natural handicaps
- To target the aid within the designated areas to areas characterised by a prevalence of extensive farming activity that effectively suffers from natural handicaps and where consequently there is significant risk of land abandonment
- To ensure transparency and controllability of the aid scheme, its consistency and complementarity with the other measures of the first and of the second pillar of the CAP
- To limit, as far as possible, the administrative burden linked to the implementation of the measure
The consultation paper identified four options:
- Status Quo+', empowering the Member States to designate LFAs according to national indicators of natural handicaps and excluding previously used socio-economic criteria. This would establish a 'no policy change' reference scenario, consistent with the new LFA rationale and close to the current situation
- Common Criteria'. Under this option, LFAs would be delimited according to the bio-physical criteria identified by the Commission's Joint Research Centre. These include Temperature, Heat stress, Soil-water balance, Drainage, Soil Texture, Stoniness, Rooting depth, Soil Chemical properties, and Slope
- 'Eligibility Rules'. In addition to the "common criteria", eligibility rules would be fixed so that aid is only given to farms which operate in an environmentally sustainable manner
- 'High Nature Value' . In addition the "common criteria" and "eligibility rules", only areas defined as High Nature Value farmland would qualify as LFAs
Under all options, the payment would be calculated on the basis of the additional costs and income foregone related to the handicap in the area concerned, within a fixed minimum and maximum amount.
The current value of the LFA Support Scheme (LFASS) in Scotland is £61 million per year.
NFUScotland and other industry organisations have responded independently to the EU consultation.