Farming Scotland: Humza Yousaf makes direct payment pledge and says Scottish Government will avoid 'cliff edges'
A commitment to Scottish farmers and crofters around direct payments has been made by First Minister Humza Yousaf
Scottish farmers and crofters have been told they will continue to receive most of their existing subsides as direct payments, as Humza Yousaf pledged to avoid financial “cliff edges”.
The commitment was made by the First Minister in a keynote speech delivered at the National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS) conference in Glasgow on Friday.
Green campaigners had argued the majority of subsidies, worth about £620 million a year, should be linked to farmers’ efforts to tackle nature loss and climate change.
But Mr Yousaf confirmed 70 per cent of support would continue in the form of direct payments, when a multi-tier system is introduced from 2027 onwards. The remaining 30 per cent of payments will be linked to targeted measures, such as restoring peatlands.
The commitment is close to the existing payment structure, under which farmers and crofters receive 80 per cent of available funding in the form of direct support.
Stakeholders said the pledge would provide a boost to the farming sector’s “confidence”.
Mr Yousaf said in his speech: “This approach is the right one for 2027 – it delivers on our promise not to create cliff edges, but to support you to transition to the new support framework.
“That is what we mean by a just transition … but I also want to be clear about it representing the start of doing things differently.
“You will be expected to deliver far more for nature and climate in return for this funding. You will challenge us, rightly, to ask us to work with you to help ensure our land is more sustainable. I promise you we will do that. And I will also ensure we will admit when we haven't got things right. Sometimes we will create a policy in one department of government and we haven't fully understood the unintended consequences on your way of life - we are going to change that.”
The planned new scheme has four payment tiers – base, enhanced, elective and complementary. The model’s introduction has been linked to Brexit, which means the UK is now in charge of its own subsidies, with some arguing farmers should have to do more to protect the environment in exchange for the money.
Scottish Liberal Democrat agricultural spokesperson Claire McLaren said the announcement had been “a long time coming”. She said: “Many have been extremely worried about this support dropping off from a cliff edge. The Scottish Government’s slow-footed approach has already caused delays and undermined investment.
“There are still many unknowns here, and that includes what proportion of agriculture funding will be made available to Scotland by Westminster.”
A commitment to Scottish farmers and crofters around direct payments has been made by First Minister Humza Yousaf
Scottish farmers and crofters have been told they will continue to receive most of their existing subsides as direct payments, as Humza Yousaf pledged to avoid financial “cliff edges”.
The commitment was made by the First Minister in a keynote speech delivered at the National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS) conference in Glasgow on Friday.
Green campaigners had argued the majority of subsidies, worth about £620 million a year, should be linked to farmers’ efforts to tackle nature loss and climate change.
But Mr Yousaf confirmed 70 per cent of support would continue in the form of direct payments, when a multi-tier system is introduced from 2027 onwards. The remaining 30 per cent of payments will be linked to targeted measures, such as restoring peatlands.
The commitment is close to the existing payment structure, under which farmers and crofters receive 80 per cent of available funding in the form of direct support.
Stakeholders said the pledge would provide a boost to the farming sector’s “confidence”.
Mr Yousaf said in his speech: “This approach is the right one for 2027 – it delivers on our promise not to create cliff edges, but to support you to transition to the new support framework.
“That is what we mean by a just transition … but I also want to be clear about it representing the start of doing things differently.
“You will be expected to deliver far more for nature and climate in return for this funding. You will challenge us, rightly, to ask us to work with you to help ensure our land is more sustainable. I promise you we will do that. And I will also ensure we will admit when we haven't got things right. Sometimes we will create a policy in one department of government and we haven't fully understood the unintended consequences on your way of life - we are going to change that.”
The planned new scheme has four payment tiers – base, enhanced, elective and complementary. The model’s introduction has been linked to Brexit, which means the UK is now in charge of its own subsidies, with some arguing farmers should have to do more to protect the environment in exchange for the money.
Scottish Liberal Democrat agricultural spokesperson Claire McLaren said the announcement had been “a long time coming”. She said: “Many have been extremely worried about this support dropping off from a cliff edge. The Scottish Government’s slow-footed approach has already caused delays and undermined investment.
“There are still many unknowns here, and that includes what proportion of agriculture funding will be made available to Scotland by Westminster.”
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 I'm delighted this morning to welcome to the stage
00:15 both First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf
00:18 and Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform,
00:20 and the Islands, Mairi Gings-Strang.
00:22 Before I ask the First Minister to come to the podium
00:25 and speak, I would like to make a few short comments.
00:29 First of all, as an industry, we
00:31 realize the commitments there are
00:33 on all of our political representatives.
00:35 And we fully appreciate the fact that we
00:37 have both the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary
00:40 here joining us today.
00:42 This, I hope, means that there's a real recognition
00:45 of the importance of the agricultural industry
00:47 in Scotland, especially as we now also
00:50 have a new appointment under the agricultural remit in Jim
00:53 Fairlie.
00:55 First of all, an enhanced budget for agriculture
00:58 and a multi-annual financial framework
01:00 to be delivered into the rural economy that
01:03 rewards the industry fairly.
01:05 Secondly, to push a Scottish first program
01:09 when it comes to public procurement
01:11 for the world-renowned food and drink we have here in Scotland.
01:15 Thirdly, to fully return the £61 million
01:18 of unallocated funds as a matter of urgency
01:21 back into the rural portfolio.
01:24 Fourthly, to enable fairness throughout the whole supply
01:27 chain.
01:28 And last, but certainly by no means least,
01:30 for the sake of the economy, to scrap the greenhouse agreement
01:34 with all the issues that's impinging
01:35 on Scottish agriculture.
01:37 First Minister, if these asks are all delivered,
01:40 then Scottish agriculture will not only
01:42 build a greater economy in Scotland,
01:44 but it will also help the Scottish Government meet
01:46 their goal of being recognized across the globe
01:49 for all the right reasons.
01:51 Ladies and gentlemen, would you please give a warm welcome
01:53 to the First Minister of Scotland, Sir.
01:56 [APPLAUSE]
01:58 Thanks for that, Martin.
02:05 Good morning, everybody.
02:07 Thank you so much for the warm welcome.
02:10 And we can definitely do a number of the five asks.
02:12 There might be one or two that might
02:14 be a bit challenging for me.
02:15 But you may have seen that yesterday was a rather
02:17 great performance in Scottish politics.
02:18 And I'm very pleased to have also
02:20 appointed a Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity
02:23 with Jimmy Fairlie, who's here as well.
02:26 And he tells me he knows a thing or two about farming.
02:28 I can confirm that the 2024 payment strategy will match
02:31 the timings that you saw in 2023.
02:34 So hopefully that gives you a degree of certainty
02:37 and assurance.
02:38 And that means, of course, that the first payments
02:40 for EPS and credit will be hitting your bank
02:42 accounts in September.
02:44 The full amount, that full 61 million
02:48 will absolutely be returned to the portfolio,
02:52 will be used to support you and your members,
02:56 will be committed in full as part of future budgets.
02:59 Constrained by the budget we receive from the UK government,
03:04 500 million taken out of our budget over the last two years
03:08 in real terms.
03:09 Exports of Scottish food and drink--
03:11 I can see the team from Scottish Food and Drink here.
03:13 Incredible, 8.1 billion in 2022.
03:18 Of course, we don't have certainty
03:21 from the UK government in terms of funding commitments
03:23 from 2025.
03:25 We need clarity from the UK government
03:28 about the future of rural funding after 2025.
03:30 And now, currently as it stands, we
03:32 don't have any idea what the Conservative, the Scottish,
03:34 and more likely an incoming Labour government
03:37 is going to do in that regard.
03:38 So we'll continue to press Westminster for that.
03:40 And O'Mary writes regularly and engages regularly
03:43 with UK government.
03:44 Doesn't always get an answer, I'm afraid,
03:46 which is here stretching that Scotland, the brand,
03:48 Scotland's food, your brand is world class,
03:51 known right across the world, loved right across the world.
03:55 Your success is the country's success.
03:58 And my job as First Minister is to make
04:01 sure you continue to flourish.
04:02 Thank you very much and look forward to your questions.
04:04 [APPLAUSE]
04:08 The cabinet secretary here, Marie Guzman,
04:14 is going to take some questions as well.
04:15 And putting money into broadband restoration
04:20 and still having unintended consequences
04:22 of that introduction of a rodent that's caused a lot of grief
04:26 is going to be a consistent cause for concern
04:29 because it's going to happen again.
04:30 And that's whether it's beavers, it's sea eagles,
04:33 it's over a bigger, larger number of badgers
04:35 that's causing a huge amount of grief within Scotland.
04:39 In terms of the point about beavers,
04:41 I think it's one that's well made.
04:44 We need to be really alive and aware
04:46 to the unintended consequences of our policy.
04:49 In relation to sea eagles, there's
04:50 going to be a review of that policy and that action plan,
04:53 which is taking place this year.
04:55 And there are also a number of pieces of work
04:58 being done in relation to badgers.
05:00 This is a question for both the First Minister
05:02 and the cabinet secretary.
05:04 And public procurement is basically
05:06 leading to huge quantities of imported food.
05:09 Now, we think the Scottish public sector
05:11 should be prioritising Scottish produce first.
05:14 And purchasing of produce to supply to schools,
05:17 hospitals, et cetera, should be, as you say,
05:20 on quality, not on price, which is actually
05:23 the case that's happening.
05:25 Could the First Minister give us his commitment
05:28 and the cabinet secretary's commitment,
05:29 because I haven't discussed it with you,
05:31 that this is going to be the case
05:32 and that you will drive us forward
05:34 to make it Scottish produce first?
05:36 I can give you a personal commitment.
05:37 That person will look at where we are
05:39 in regards to public procurement contracts.
05:43 Again, for me, it could be a win-win.
05:45 Of course, we've got to factor in price.
05:47 That's got to be part of the calculation
05:49 that we make in any procurement decision.
05:52 And of course, we're dealing with public funds.
05:54 But there's a win-win if we get more Scottish produce
05:57 into our public sector, into our hospitals,
05:59 into our schools.
06:01 Good morning, First Minister.
06:02 It feels really hard going running a business at the moment,
06:06 not just because of rising costs
06:09 and the impact on your profitability,
06:11 but it feels hard going due to a number of government policies.
06:16 And there's people across sectors
06:19 who feel that some policies are anti-business.
06:24 Can you give us assurance that you will,
06:26 through the New Deal for Business and other areas,
06:29 look at facilitating rural business growth
06:32 and just making it easier to grow our businesses
06:34 in the rural economy?
06:36 So nobody underestimates the difficulties and challenges.
06:39 And I'm credible on you.
06:40 You should all be commended for the resilience
06:42 that your businesses have shown
06:44 throughout that really difficult period.
06:45 I've never known a period like it.
06:47 First of all, thank you for coming here today.
06:49 It's more than the younger Secretary of State
06:50 for Scotland managed yesterday.
06:52 He addressed us from home.
06:53 From Ballater to Berlin,
06:55 there has been farmers out on the streets,
06:59 protesting, bringing capital cities to a standstill.
07:03 Much of that, the thread of consistency,
07:05 has been around the green agenda.
07:10 The Bute House agreement was described in this room yesterday
07:13 as an absolute disaster.
07:15 Fergus Ewing described it as the green tail
07:18 wagging the big yellow dog.
07:20 If you're unwilling to scrap the Bute House agreement,
07:22 would you at least undertake to review it?
07:25 Even if the Greens were not in government,
07:28 we would still have broadly inclined change targets.
07:31 And it wasn't the Greens that simply voted
07:33 for the broadly inclined change targets.
07:34 Every single political party,
07:36 including the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats,
07:39 all voted unanimously for that 2045 NECO target.
07:44 They are quite literally statutory targets.
07:47 If we don't meet those statutory targets,
07:49 we end up getting taken to court,
07:51 and we'd probably lose.
07:52 What has been done with the £61 million
07:55 was that funding was not taken from farmers' pockets.
07:58 It was not taken from any current schemes.
08:00 And I'd also point out that it's deferred funding.
08:04 It was not stolen.
08:05 That £61 million is ring-fenced funding.
08:08 Because it is ring-fenced,
08:10 it means it must be returned to the portfolio.
08:13 And in that sense, we're in a more fortunate position
08:15 in relation to the rural affairs portfolio
08:18 than other parts of government where that is not the case.
08:20 But the £46 million will be returned to the portfolio,
08:24 and we cannot be any clearer than that.
08:26 The next generation are so, so important.
08:29 We need to have an industry that's going to be vibrant
08:31 and profitable to get the encouragement
08:33 to get the next generation involved.
08:34 So we have to get this right.
08:35 Ladies and gentlemen,
08:37 it's been a tremendous session this morning.
08:38 I want to all join with me and give a big vote of thanks
08:41 to our First Minister for Scotland, Hamza Yousaf,
08:44 and Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands,
08:47 Mairi Gougeon.
08:47 Thank you very much.
08:48 (audience applauding)
08:51 (upbeat music)
08:57 (upbeat music)
09:00 [MUSIC]