Scottish dairy farmers are being urged to apply for EU funding to support them implement key on-farm management tools.
In 2016 the EU Commission set aside £350 million to be shared out between each Member State in order to contribute to market stabilisation. The UK was allocated £25m.
The funding is targeted towards the hardest hit dairy farmers by encouraging the widespread uptake of milk recording and production profiling techniques, which provide dairy farmers with the information required to help make informed business decisions.
The highest payment rate, £4,000, will be made available to farmers on Bute, Arran, Mull, and the Kintyre peninsula to protect the supply base for Campbeltown creamery.
Farmers who were paid less than 20p per litre (ppl) during 2016 will receive £3,250, producers who were under 25ppl will get £2,000 each, while those who received 25ppl or more will receive £1,000.
Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: “It is clear that some farmers suffered more than others during the latest period of market instability, which put severe downward pressure on dairy farm gate prices."
Meanwhile, because of compulsory changes to the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) by the European Commission, it is proposed that hill farmers and crofters in Scotland's most fragile and remote areas will receive a parachute payment in 2018 of 80 per cent of their LFASS rate.
