NFUS11: Paice reassures Scottish farmers over payments

Speaking at the Scottish NFUS AGM in St Andrews, Mr Paice said he believed a long-term move away from direct subsidy was inevitable but not imminent.

“I have believed for a long time that the day will come when farming operates without any form of direct market support. I don’t know when it will be, but it will happen.

“We cannot do it now, which is why we know we cannot abandon the single payment in this round.

But, he went on, “We do have two options: we can accept that public sector financial support for farming will decrease and use the time to concentrate on helping the industry prepare itself. Or we can hunker down and argue that we need more, in full knowledge that it won’t happen.”

This, he explained, was the reasoning behind the Government’s much documented stance in arguing for a reduction in CAP budget and a shift in resources from pillar 1 to pillar 2. And he believed there was a ‘very good chance’ that pillar 1 money could be moved because the UK was not alone in its stance on CAP - it had allies in Europe.

Earlier outgoing NFUS president Jim McLaren had suggested that while Scotland was leading much of the thinking in Europe, the UK as a Member State, risked being marginalised over its agricultural policy.

However, Mr Paice was adamant this was not the case. He said they were working hard in Europe to build alliances with countries which had broadly similar views. Those alliances included: the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic and Germany ‘most of the way.’ Although, he was careful to add, no country was going to get everything it asked for.

Commenting on Mr Paice’s speech, Scottish Minister for Rural Affairs Richard Lochhead said: “I’m sure Scottish farmers will welcome any back-tracking on Caroline Spelman’s [Oxford Farming Conference] speech.

“However, the message that will keep alarm bells ringing appeared to be at the heart of his speech when he suggested Scotland could expect not only a smaller budget but more of that budget to be directed to Pillar 2.” Which, he said could be considered a ‘double whammy’ for Scotland.

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment

Post as

Anonymously

Display name