UK farmers are set to get a £26.5million share of the European Commission’s recently announced aid package.
EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan has released details of the commission’s £367.6million (500million euros) aid package, which was unveiled following an extraordinary meeting of EU farm ministers in Brussels last week.
The meeting attracted a mass demonstration of more than 6,000 farmers, including some from Scotland, to the Belgian capital to protest over the poor prices being received by farmers for their produce.
Mr Hogan said the bulk of the aid package – £308.8million (420million euros) – would come in the form of financial aid to all 28 member states.
“The difficulties being experienced throughout the EU differ in emphasis from member state to member state and so the package is constructed in such a way that it responds to those different challenges and, at the same time, provides member states with the maximum flexibility to tailor aid to their particular needs,” said Mr Hogan.
The United Kingdom’s share of the aid totals £26.54million (36million euros).
Mr Hogan also confirmed that the private storage aid (PSA) rate for skimmed milk powder would increase by 100% and be fixed for one year, while the new PSA scheme for cheese will include the option for un-used allocations to be redistributed to other member states after three months.
The pigmeat scheme will also be opened up to include fresh lard.
Storage aid, which pays for the storage of a certain food commodity, is introduced for a limited time in times of crisis to support the market.
Mr Hogan also gave more details on the commission’s announcement last week that member states would be allowed to pay up to 70% of direct payments as early as October 16.
He said these payments could be made provided administrative controls had been completed, and without the need to complete the on-the-spot checks.
NFU Scotland welcomed the news and said the ability to payments without having on-the-spot checks completed was especially relevant to Scotland.
“We will look to discuss this concession with Scottish Government and identify if this is worth adopting or whether Richard Lochhead’s commitment to deliver a full support payment run in the normal early December window is of greater benefit to the industry,” said chief executive Scott Walker.
Meanwhile, farm minister Richard Lochhead has called for an urgent meeting to decide how the emergency farm funding should be split within the UK.
He said: “Scottish farmers are dealing with the double whammy of volatile markets and the impact of very poor weather conditions earlier this year, with some parts of the country experiencing their wettest summer for over a century.
“In this time of need, it is imperative that Scotland’s farmers gets a fair share of the EU’s emergency funding.”
He said he would be writing to the Defra Secretary of State, Liz Truss, to request an urgent meeting.