THE debacle over the lateness of Basic Farm Payments has been occupying industry minds for months, if not years now.
ScotGov can, just about, say it has been constantly admitting this over a period of time.
What it certainly cannot defend itself against is the knock-on effect that this will have to LFASS, beef calf and ewe hogg scheme payments. If anything, it certainly seems that government officials have been happy to keep these matters under the radar, as firefighting over BFP has been the number one, if not sole, priority for months now.
The official line from now on will almost certainly be that there is a certain amount of linkage, and BFP criteria and costs require to be known before monies can be dispersed.
However, this will not wash with a farming industry. Even if it means ScotGov going cap in hand to Brussels to get emergency clearance to pay out, it must do so as a matter of urgency.
It is clear that there is no legal EU timetable which dictates that payment must be made by a certain date. It is just as clear, though, that real hardship is being endured by Scottish farmers through absolutely no fault of their own. Therefore, a way must be found to get the LFASS, beef calf and ewe hogg payments into bank accounts.
It is, therefore, incumbent on the Cabinet Secretary to come out of the stupor which seems to be bedevilling the whole rural affairs machine in Edinburgh, put the necessary emergency instruments in place, and issue a payments timetable which he can 100% deliver.
Otherwise, Holyrood elections in May or not, the clamour for his head will become irrefutable.
So far, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has resisted all public calls to intervene officially in the matter, but only the naive could believe that the First Minister and the Finance Secretary, John Swinney, have not asked Richard Lochhead and his staff to explain this debacle, which is around £75 million over budget, and which has put the competence or otherwise of ScotGov firmly in the spotlight, not to mention raising the possibility of an additional unbudgeted £100m disallowance penalty.
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