North-east Tory MSP Liam Kerr has tackled the Scottish Government this week to offer more support to farmers who have been impacted by flooding over recent months.
Speaking in Holyrood on Wednesday, Mr Kerr referenced the hardship faced by producers after severe wet weather and a difficult winter drastically impacted production.
He made reference to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a £75 million flood fighting fund and an index for UK-wide food security issues.
Liam Kerr MSP reminded Scottish Government of flooding support in England
This was followed by last week’s pledge of a further £50 million of support English farmers hit by flooding and exceptional wet weather.
In his question, Mr Kerr asked: “What precisely will the Scottish Government do to support farmers in Scotland such as looking to replicate these UK Government sums?”
Mr Fairlie responded and said that the Scottish Government had no notification that any of that funding would be coming to Scotland.
He said: “The Scottish Government has put a Capital Grants Fund of £1.8 million into play to help farmers in the current crisis and we are still waiting on applications to come in based on the fact we have had this wet weather.”
Mr Fairlie added that over 306,000 of agricultural flood bank repair scheme payments have been processed.
Capital Grants Fund of £1.8m available but ‘waiting on applications’ says Jim Fairlie
He said that because many farmers have been unable to carry out repairs due to the horrendous spring, the Scottish Government has extended the deadline for repairs to be carried out in claim from May 31 to July 31.
Mr Kerr later said: “I asked the minister where the much-needed support was coming from, on behalf of farmers and NFU Scotland which has made similar calls.
“In his answer, Mr Fairlie didn’t seem to know about the support scheme in England – so I take that to mean nothing is coming, any time soon.
Deadline for repairs extended from May 31 to July 31
“Rather than waiting for ‘applications to come in’, the Scottish Government must actively release funding to farms across Scotland to alleviate the destruction which has been caused by the prolonged rainfall.”
Willie Rennie, North East Fife Lib Dem MSP argued that there was no clear advice for farmers on how they should manage water on their land and in the rivers, and that there were no grants available for natural water management.
How should farmers manage water on their land?
Mr Rennie asked: “Will the new flood resilience strategy include plans, advice and grants?”
Mr Fairlie replied: “I recently hosted a round table on river flood management and the conversation was about catchment areas and how we are going to mitigate flooding in the future. We absolutely accept that there are changing climate issues and we need to place resilience in order for us to deal with flooding going forward.”
