To ALL intents and purposes Alastair and Janet Taylor are the ideal new entrants - young, building up a farm, living in a rural community and working hard to make their business a success.

It would seem obvious that they should receive a helping hand from the various schemes and grants made available by the Scottish Government for new entrant businesses.

The couple, aged 29 and 30, have indeed received support - but not from the government funds they expected to help them.

After living in a caravan on Janet's parents driveway while contracting, they secured the tenancy of Saorphin Farm, on the Isle of Mull.

And, while they are happy to have been given the opportunity to start their business, it hasn't been easy and would have been almost impossible without the help of their local community and landlord.

When they took on the tenancy, the previous tenant had not been running it as a farm, so it hadn't had any livestock and was bare of handling equipment and stock-proof fences.

Mr Taylor explained: "We got a yearly lease on the house and a five-year lease on the land. We had to call in a lot of favours to buy livestock. A friend kindly sold us cattle and allowed us to pay for them the following year, as coming from a caravan we didn't have any assets to sell. Since then, we have bought more stock. We're now lambing 100 ewes - Cheviot cross Shetland - and keep Highland cattle."

They also bought handling equipment and a livestock trailer using bank loans. With the help of their landlord, they have also managed to secure SFP entitlements, which have been a lifeline.

"We struck a deal with our landlord," explained Mr Taylor. "Our one saving grace is that he was keen to see the unit run as a farm. He bought the entitlements from the previous tenant and gave them to us.

"The deal we arranged was that we would take on the management of the forestry scheme that was on the farm. In return for fencing the blocks and the loss of the areas, we would get the SFP."

However, with such high costs starting a whole business from scratch, the couple had hoped to apply for new entrant grants available from ScotGov as part of the CAP.

The first problem was that rules meant claimants could not have spent any money on the farm before applying and, with a turnaround of one year to 18 months, that was something the couple just couldn't do.

Mr Taylor said: "The worst thing is that it is a tease. We heard the new entrant start up grant was for those farming for under five years, then under two years, it wasn't clear.

"The department has said if you have spent money on the farm, you are ineligible, but new entrants can't sit around waiting on money coming in.

"The only way that rule would work is if the claimant is a youngster who has had their name put on their family farm and is taking it over from their parents. If anyone has a child over 16 they can get a full start up grant. Trying to negotiate eligibility is a minefield. We've been told to put in an application anyway, to put pressure on the government."

There was another option the couple decided to try, but found out late on that it was not available to those on a short term lease.

Mr Taylor said: "The capital grant scheme is similar, new entrants are eligible for the first five years. However, on a five year SDT you are not eligible. It's aimed at young people, but it's asking a lot of a landlord to put an under-40, first-time-farmer on a long tenancy.

"Our landlord has been really good and he is looking at getting us onto a long-term tenancy so we can get the grant," he added.

"The eligibility critera should be less stringent." explained Mr Taylor. "I can see they are trying to get legitimate first time farmers but they are missing where the money needs to go. For those who take over their parents farm to be as eligible as new entrants starting from scratch isn't right. This needs to be sorted quickly."

They are grateful to their landlord and to the wider community for helping out, but it hasn't been easy added Mrs Taylor: "We have a good farming community around us and they have been such a big support. If we hadn't had that we might have sunk. They support us when the government doesn't."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We have worked to expand support for new entrants in the new CAP, such as the National Reserve flexibilities that mean new entrant farmers who were wholly or partly frozen out under the old CAP will receive basic payments at the regional average from day one of the new system.

"Our proposals for the SRDP - which are still awaiting formal EU approval - also include up to £20 million of specific new entrant support through the young farmer start up grants, new entrant start up grants and new entrant capital grants schemes. The grants we offer must adhere to European funding framework rules."