Scottish Government declines offer to extend farm subsidy application deadline

Scottish Government has chosen not to accept a European Commission offer to extend the deadline for this year’s Single Application Form (SAF).

Member states have been given the option to extend the deadline to June 15, however the Scottish Government is sticking with the May 15 deadline.

A government spokeswoma said: “We have consulted stakeholders and while the European Commission has made this facility available, the original deadline will be maintained in Scotland.

“We are seeing good take up of the application process this year, particularly compared to previous years and we would encourage all customers to submit their applications as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, NFU Scotland has issued a reminder to farmers to include maps of their Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) with their SAF applications.

The union’s combinable crops policy manager, Peter Loggie, said: “If the EFA map is missing, the result can be a total loss of the whole greening element because it is deemed that the application for greening has not been made on time.”

He said a penalty could also be applied even if all EFA rules have been complied with on the ground.