SPARE Rural Development funding from the EU should be redirected towards Scotland’s new generation of farmers and crofters, NFU Scotland proposed this week.

Cash allocated to the Environmental Co-operation Action Fund is currently suspended to allow for the redesign of its delivery scheme to meet EU audit requirements, with a view to a future relaunch. Ministers have been considering how this fund might be reallocated, prompting NFUS to suggest that rural economy CabSec Fergus Ewing use it to bolster the new entrants’ components of the SRDP 2014-2020 – the Young Farmers and New Entrants Start Up Grants Schemes and the New Entrants Capital Grant Scheme.

Around £7 million of the £10 million allocated to those schemes has already be taken up, with 140 successful applicants. Topping up that funding from ECAF would, said the union, increase the effectiveness of these popular but overstretched new entrant measures.

Newly-elected president Andrew McCornick said: “With some £10 million originally allocated to ECAF, we now have an opportunity for this funding to drive our shared objective of supporting new and young farmers.

“We are in complete agreement with Scottish Government on this issue. Encouraging a new generation to the industry is vital if Scotland is to maintain vibrant farming and crofting sectors. Overcoming barriers to entry and attracting talented people to agriculture is a key priority for both the Scottish Government and NFU Scotland.”

NFUS New Generation Group chairman Mark Donald, himself a 37-year-old a tenant farmer at Rhynaclach, near Port of Menteith, welcomed the strong focus put on new entrants and young farmers by the First Minister in her address at the union’s recent AGM.

“The Young Farmers and New Entrants Start Up Grant Schemes are particularly vital in supporting the next generation of farmers with start-up aid linked to the delivery of a business plan with agriculture as its core activity," he said.

“There is a justifiable concern that the total budget allocation of £10 million will soon be exhausted, and we have already seen a very high proportion of unsuccessful applications – not as a result of poorer business plans but driven by a need to manage limited budgets.

“To build on its commitment to the new generation, reallocating the funding ear-marked for the ECAF to these much-valued, but under-funded schemes, would go some considerable way to delivering on our shared goal of attracting and nurturing talented young folk, helping them embrace the challenges and opportunities offered by our agricultural industry.”

Responding, Mr Ewing did not immediately reject the idea, but equally, he didn't say 'yes' either: “We fully intend to re-design and re-launch the ECAF scheme for 2017-18. In the meantime, some of the £1.8 million for this year will go towards our croft house grants scheme, which also benefits new and young entrants into farming and crofting."

“The success of the Young Farmers and New Entrants Start Up Grant Schemes, with more than £7 million funding development and creation of around 140 new farms all over Scotland, does mean that we need to find ways to augment available funding. We are determined to do this.

“As the NFUS knows, compliance rules do not allow us to simply lift money from one agreed Pillar II scheme into another without discussion with the European Commission. I’d be happy to meet with Mark Donald and the New Generation Group to discuss this more fully and hear their ideas on what else is needed to support new and young farmers.”