The number of farmers getting fined for failing cross compliance inspections has almost halved, according to the latest figures from the Scottish Government.

Previously, fines were issued for 30% of failed inspections, but that has now dropped to just 17% of cases, with inspectors dishing out more warning letters than penalties to farmers who breach scheme rules.

Following recommendations from the Simplification Taskforce, the proportion of such warning letters has risen from 36% in 2019 to 60% in 2021. The taskforce's 2020 report specifically requested greater use of warning letters, a policy change championed by former Scottish Rural Minister Fergus Ewing, who saw it as a bonus to leaving the European Union

For years, the bulk of cross compliance breaches have related to livestock identification inspections, where farmers were regularly slapped with penalties worth thousands of pounds. Missing tags, animal records and cattle passports were scrupulously reviewed, with unforgiving rules imposing fines on farmers who were found to have erred. However since leaving the EU, the proportion of cattle ID inspections resulting in a financial penalty has fallen from 32% to 12% between 2019 and 2021.

It was stressed that this has been delivered through an increased proportion of warning letters, rather than any dramatic increase in actual compliance levels. Compliance to the strict rules remains an issue for cattle farms with 54% of inspections finding errors. This is despite Covid restrictions halving the number of inspections to 216 in 2021.

The proportion of warning letters for failed sheep ID inspections has risen too, from 38% to 64% between 2019 and 2021. Last year 15% of sheep inspections resulted in a fine compared to 28% two years prior.

Kirsten Williams, livestock team leader at SRUC, was a member of the 'simplifying agricultural regulation' taskforce. She said: “The shift in volume of the level of warning letters compared to financial penalty is excellent to see, allowing for low severity issues to be rectified in a timely manner with no financial penalty. This is a positive step forward for the industry which should make the inspection process a less stressful exercise for all involved, given compliance is followed.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “It is important that businesses take individual responsibility for the collective good of their industry and Scottish Government inspections are an important part of ensuring that high standards are maintained and that poor standards are addressed. Not only does on-farm compliance protect public and animal health, it also helps protect the reputation of the farming industry in Scotland.

“Due to Covid, to protect farmers, crofters and the inspectors themselves and to reduce the amount of time spent on a farm, we had to suspend some of our inspections such as the SMR 7 (cattle) inspections, which is why the rate has gone down.”