Less Favoured Area payment cuts 'unacceptable', upland farmers say

Upland farmers have said that any financial cut to the "lifeline" that is the Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme (LFASS) scheme is "unacceptable".

Less Favoured Area (LFA) farmers and crofters are set to see their payments cut by 20 per cent in 2019, followed by a possible 80 per cent cut in 2020.

The Scottish government has said it is unable to provide any certainty beyond 2019 and put this down to a lack of clear assurances from the UK government on post-Brexit guarantees.

NFU Scotland has now called for Scotland's Cabinet Secretary Fergus Ewing to hold LFASS support at current levels.

The union said the payments are "vital" to Scottish farming and crofting businesses, and the Scottish government has been urged to continue to provide support at its current level of £65 million through 2019 and 2020.

NFU Scotland LFA Committee Chairman, Robert MacDonald said: “LFASS payments provide a vital financial boost to farmers and crofters who are trying forge a living out of some of the hardest land in the country.

“For them to lose out on any of this support would not only be devastating for their businesses but also for the natural environments which they tend to.

Mr MacDonald added: “We have made Mr Ewing fully aware of our concerns today and he has been given a great deal of food for thought as he returns to Holyrood.”

The difficult weather over the last 18 months and the added costs which farmers and crofters have had to pay for bedding and fodder has only vindicated the the industry's position that the LFASS payments are vital, NFU Scotland said.