The Organic Aid Scheme
The Organic Aid Scheme has now closed, the last application round had a closing date of 30th April 2006. This is due to the 2000 - 2006 Scottish Rural Development Plan coming to an end in December 2006.
A number of features, similar to those in the Organic Aid scheme, have now been incorporated into the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) 2007-2013 under the heading of Rural Priorities.
The Organic Aid Scheme has provided payments for farmers to convert to organic methods of farming since 1994, during this time funding has been approved for 1,080 applications. 800 of these approvals have been under the 2000 - 2006 Scottish Rural Development Plan (SRDP) with some 180,000 of land being converted. Since its introduction the Maintenance Scheme has approved funding for 180 applications.
Over the years there have been changes and improvements to the scheme. In 2004 there were considerable changes to the scheme. New payments for land in fruit and vegetable production and twelve new capital activities were introduced, we also provided more long term support for organic producers by introducing the 5 year Maintenance Scheme. The 2004 changes to the Organic Aid Scheme were in line with the headline targets of the Scottish Executive Organic Action Plan. In 2005 the payment rates were further reviewed with some significant increases, these were introduced in 2006.
The final year of the Organic Aid Scheme in 2006 had the largest number of applications since the scheme started in 1994, with some 314 applications received and 162 applications approved for funding. Ministers allocated over £11 million for this round which is more than double the amount of funding for any of the previous years that the OAS has been running.
It is proposed that organic aid will be one of a range of measures under tier 3 of Land Management Contracts. It is hoped that these new measures will be open for applications in autumn 2007.
We are working with industry stakeholders to ensure that the new measure is effectively targeted. We will also be discussing with industry stakeholders what changes might be needed on how we rank applications and distribute the available funds. Ministers have also brought forward a planned review of all the agri-environment schemes, a key object of this review will be a fundamental consideration of the funding principals for the future to ensure that available resources deliver the maximum public benefits.