Scottish farmers and crofters are set to receive a cash injection in the New Year as part of a £69million refund to the UK from the European Commission.
According to the Scottish Government, this will result in an average boost of £670 per Scots farm business.
The money had been taken away from farmers’ subsidy support payments, for those claiming more than 2,000 euros, to create an European agricultural crisis fund.
In total, the European Commission will refund a total of £688million to all member states.
According to UK farm ministry Defra, the Scottish Government’s share of the £69million UK rebate represents just over 18% of the pot, or £12.45million in monetary terms.
English farmers will receive the bulk of the money at £44.75million, while those in Northern Ireland will get £5.63million and farmers in Wales will get £6.14million.
The Defra spokesman said: “As the crisis fund was not all needed, the money can be distributed back so SPS payments – again, only those with claims above 2,000 euros.”
He said English farmers would receive the extra cash alongside their subsidy payments in December.
The Scottish Government said its share of the rebate was £12.2million – £250,000 less than the figures provided by Defra.
A spokeswoman said: “The process for the repayment of these funds to Scottish farmers, however, requires us to know the total value of adjusted 2014 direct payments.
“We will not know these figures until March next year, and as such have planned the repayment scheme for May 2015.
“The repayment each business will get is relative to the amount of direct payment it receives so not every farmer will get the same amount, however on average the repayment works out at £670 per business.”
NFU Scotland director of policy Jonnie Hall said: “In light of overall cuts to Cap funding, a reimbursement of this nature is welcomed.
“Any injection of cash to Scotland’s hard-pressed farms and crofts at a time when cash flow can be critical must be positive.
“Whilst this in no way recovers Scotland’s overall direct support shortfall in a new financial period, we have to now work with the Scottish Government to make sure that payments are made as swiftly as possible.”