Farmers will see a slight fall in payment rates under the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme (SUSSS) as the number of eligible animals claimed has increased.
Direct support to help maintain sheep flocks in remote areas of Scotland started to reach farmers' bank accounts this week, the Scottish government confirmed.
The upland support scheme issues funds to help farming businesses reliant on poorer quality rough grazing.
The individual payment rate for the 2020 scheme year is €67.12 (£59.80) per eligible ewe hogg, with the conversion rate set at €1 = £0.89092.
Under the 2019 scheme, the payment rate was €70.00 (£62.36) per animal, with the 2019 conversion rate set at €1 = £0.89092.
According to NFU Scotland, the reduction in payment rate for 2020 of €2.88 (£2.56) per animal is due to the increase in ewe hoggs claimed.
The union's LFA committee chairman, Robert Macdonald said 'better targeting' should be introduced.
He said this could be achieved by limiting the number of ewe hoggs claimed by each eligible applicant to 20% of their breeding flock.
“This would be in addition to the existing requirement that claimants require four hectares of Region 3 land per ewe hogg claimed," he explained.
“As a consequence, this would secure an increase in support going to those actively farming the most challenging land where lambing percentages are always restricted by a host of physical factors.”
He added: "SUSSS remains a vital support stream for hill farmers and is one that the LFA committee believes could still benefit from further rule revision."
