SCOTTISH farmers have been presented with a road map for the delivery of future agricultural policy support, but details over funding allocation remain unclear.

The ‘Agricultural Reform Route Map’ published at last week’s NFU Scotland conference, outlined key dates for making changes to Scotland’s farming policy.

Industry bodies welcomed this development, but criticised the lack of funding clarity, urging for all current direct payments (including coupled payments and LFA support) to remain within tier one and two of the future support system.

Scottish farmers have been assured that basic payments will continue at current levels until 2025, where some new conditional measures are proposed to come into force within existing schemes and in 2026, the Scottish Government expect new primary and secondary legislation to come into force – introducing the four-tier system for agricultural support that they recently consulted on.

More clarity was given over the types of tier two conditional measures farmers may be asked to adopt from 2025, with 39 measures announced. These are a list of actions farmers can look to implement on farm, to improve efficiency and are based on recommendations by the Farmer-Led Groups, academics and other administrations.

An example of one of the measures which could apply to arable farmers include, ‘reduce use of inorganic fertilisers and lime’ and suggested actions include, using soil analysis to improve targeted spreading and using animal manure or livestock grazing.

Two measures targeted at livestock farmers include improving livestock breeding and animal health, with some actions suggested including introducing a cull and replacement policy, use of estimated breed indexes, vaccine use and implementing herd health monitoring and diagnosis.

SRUC Economist, Steven Thomson, urged farmers to take time to read through the measures and consider what might work best on their farms.

“These measures allow farmers to at least be able to see the kind of things the Scottish Government is talking about in terms of the conditions related to the support which will sit within tier two. Farmers now examine the list and assess how appropriate they are to their farm system and identify any areas which have been missed – this type of feedback is essential.

“Anyone involved with monitor farm projects or discussion groups, are likely to be in a good place to be leading on this. I hope these groups take time to explore these measures, look at how easy they are to implement, whether they are going to be beneficial., and provide feedback accordingly.”

NFUS president, Martin Kennedy, told The SF he was pleased to see that many of the proposed measures announced were in line with the recommendations of the Farmer-Led Groups, but pointed out that there was no clarity over the budget and where money would be split between tier one and tier two measures.

“Whilst the route map does not yet answer all the questions about the new support framework, or provide the detail of how measures will be applied and what applicants will be paid, it does provide a set of dates to explain when current schemes will transition or end and when more guidance, support and information will become available.

“That means we now have more traction on the government’s timelines moving forward, but we have no indication of what the budget is going to be, or how it will be allocated. We are adamant that direct payments must remain within tier one and tier two, and we will be pushing for this going forward.

“Food security and retaining a critical mass of production must be front and centre of Scottish Government’s future policy. By focussing on food production, we will also be able to keep people in rural areas and deliver for both the environment and biodiversity,” he added.