The wider agricultural business community has been warned farmers and crofters may be unable to pay their bills in December if subsidy support payments are late.
Last week NFU Scotland said it believed it was highly unlikely farm subsidy support payments would be paid on time, despite government saying it was “working flat out” to begin payments by the end of the year.
Now the union has made Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) Scotland – the membership body for companies supplying animal feed, plant protection products and fertiliser – aware of the situation.
“We’re all too aware that financial support to Scottish agriculture very rapidly filters through all those businesses that supply vital inputs and services to farmers and crofters,” said NFU Scotland president Allan Bowie.
“In that sense, the ‘multiplier’ value of direct support is huge for the upstream and downstream businesses that also underpin Scotland’s rural economy.”
He said the union had repeatedly asked farm minister Richard Lochhead to “come clean” and let farm businesses know what their value of support payments will be and when they can reasonably expect to receive them.
“The reality is that non-delivery of support in December has serious ramifications for many ancillary businesses that are major employers and are integral to the prosperity of rural areas and the wider Scottish economy,” added Mr Bowie.
“A clear and unambiguous steer from Scottish Government on support payment values and delivery is in the best interests of all connected to the agricultural industry and not just farm businesses.”
Scottish Tenant Farmers Association chairman, Christopher Nicholson, echoed the union’s concerns.
He said: “Given that farm cash flows may be under pressure this autumn due to reduced commodity prices, clarity on the timing of this year’s support payments would be a great help in allowing producers to forward plan.”
Meanwhile, AIC Scotland said it had written to Richard Lochhead asking for him to resolve the issues “for the sake of the whole farming industry, both those who farm and those who supply them”.
When asked to respond to industry concerns, the Scottish Government issued the exact same statement it had released last week.
A spokeswoman said: “The payment window is from December 1 to June 30 and in previous years we have had a tremendous record in beginning payments at the start of the payment window.
“However, under the new Cap, which is radically different to the former policy and also requires new systems, we already face a herculean task in beginning payments before the end of the year.
“2015 was always going to be a challenging year with the biggest Cap reform in a generation to be implemented. During the Cap negotiations NFUS made clear that we had to get the policy decisions right even if that meant more complexity and an impact on timing in the first year. The Scottish Government is working flat out to be able to begin making basic payments by the end of the year.”