WIREDGOV

Views on how farming and crofting can continue to be supported and sustained in 'less favoured areas' are being sought from today.

Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead launched a consultation on the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) for 2010-2013.

Speaking during a parliamentary debate on hill farming and less-favoured areas, Mr Lochhead said:

"We have a clear and ambitious agenda for Scottish agriculture in the 21st century: a dynamic and competitive industry which supports the sustainable, economic growth of our rural communities.

"Less-favoured areas comprise 85 per cent of our agricultural land and are therefore an integral part of our agenda. LFASS provides £61 million a year to support over 12,500 farming and crofting businesses.

"The recent loss of livestock from our hills is a matter of serious and growing concern to the Scottish Government. A decline in activity threatens the viability of communities and impacts on food production and our environment.

"This consultation is therefore vitally important. It will enable us to work in partnership with the industry so we can respond to the challenges we face and ensure hill farming and remote rural communities can look forward to a viable future."

When the Scottish Government submitted the Scottish Rural Development Programme (of which LFASS is a part) to Brussels in summer 2007, changes in the European regulations on LFASS were expected to take effect from January 1, 2010. European approval was therefore sought (and gained) for an interim LFASS to run during 2007, 2008 and 2009.

It is no longer clear that the new European regulations for LFASS will come into effect in 2010. Nevertheless representatives on the Scottish Government's LFASS Stakeholder Group have said that they would like the interim scheme reviewed and for any necessary changes to be made for 2010-13. Today's consultation paper therefore sets out options for a second interim scheme for 2010-13, as well as seeking views on how we should respond to possible changes in the relevant European regulations.

The closing date for consultation responses is December 19, 2008.

The LFASS consultation is taking place against the background of the European Commission's Health Check of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), on which a separate consultation paper was published by the Scottish Government in June of this year.

Related Information

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/09/17083528/0