Almost £310 million paid to farmers

The rural economy across Scotland is now benefiting from almost £310 million worth of subsidy payments that has been made to farmers Fergus Ewing confirmed today.

The Rural Economy Secretary said significant progress has been made over the last few weeks, with £90 million worth of final payments having been made since June 23 - giving a total of £112 million paid out since the end of May.

The Scottish Government will shortly provide an update on the timing for payments under the remaining schemes.

Mr Ewing said:

“I pledged to make CAP payments my absolute priority and that is what I have done. We have now paid out almost £310 million to more than 17,700 farms, with more than £90 million in final payments having been made in the last week, providing a real boost to the rural economy.

“There will be no let up on our efforts as we work hard to process the remaining payments and put the system on a proper footing for 2016 payments. I would like to pay tribute to our staff who have been pulling out all of the stops for many months to make payments as quickly as possible – this progress is testament to their hard work.

“Of course, these figures also underline the importance of the CAP payments to Scottish agriculture and that is one of the reasons why this Government is working to protect Scotland’s place within the EU.”