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Farmers are being urged to double check claims for subsidy payments on eligible land to safeguard the future of vital European funding.

The European Commission is demanding that all UK administrations tighten controls on applications for support under the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and ensure all farmers comply with the rules.

Now, all those in receipt of Single Farm Payment (SFP) and Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) monies have been urged to review the land area claimed with an urgent and critical eye. If in doubt that land claimed falls within the strict eligibility guidelines, farmers are urged to leave it out rather than put in jeopardy the subsidy payments that often mean the difference between profit and loss.

Richard Lochhead Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs said:

"The Scottish Government has been working with the Commission over the past few months to ensure our Land Parcel Information Systems are fully up to date and that farmers claim only on eligible land.

"While the Commission has been assured that our inspection regime is adequate and that we will not pay on ineligible land, the responsibility to identify what areas can be claimed falls on individual farmers.

"Producers have one further, final, opportunity before payments commence to check and, if necessary, amend their applications for 2010 support.

"As failure to exclude ineligible land - such as water courses, roads, yards, buildings and impenetrable vegetation - could invalidate a claim and lead to a penalty covering the previous three years of support, there is a lot at stake here for both individual farmers and rural Scotland as a whole.

"The vast majority of farmers are completing the forms correctly, but the with margin of error so small and the costs great, it is important that details are double checked.

"The European Union has stated if an over-claim is deemed intentional, even an error of as little as 1 hectare or 0.5 per cent of the entire land area applied for being found ineligible could trigger the loss of all payments to a business.

"The Scottish Government cannot turn a blind eye to farmers claiming support on ineligible land.

"Northern Ireland, Spain, Germany and Luxembourg have undergone similar audit procedures and face significant fines. Northern Ireland has been warned by the Commission that is faces a flat rate correction of five per cent against all CAP payments - totally more than £60m.

"If we fail to act the impact of penalties levied by the Commission would fall on other schemes. Less support would be available to all farmers, crofters and, potentially, to the wider rural community."

© Chris McCormick

Farmers Urged To Check Support Claims

15/09/2010 12:04:30

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