Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said he is sympathetic to a call for Scotland to receive more CAP cash from the UK Government.
He was speaking just days after Scottish politicians from across the divide wrote to him and UK Environment Secretary Owen Paterson urging them to ensure all the £195 million extra being paid to Britain up to 2020 heads north of the border.
The cash boost is due solely to Scotland receiving one of the lowest payments on a per hectare basis in the EU, and the European Commission is now addressing that in its CAP convergence process. That should ultimately mean everyone receiving about the same rate, regardless of where they farm.
But Mr Carmichael, on a visit to Charlie Adams’ farm at Braeside, Leochel Cushnie, near Alford, warned it was not as simple a process as had been made out, and could be open to legal challenge.
That threat also applied to the coupling of aid to support the suckler herd, and Scottish attempts to deliver more meaningful levels of extra finance by using 8% of the UK’s allocation as opposed to just 8% of Scotland’s budget.
Mr Carmichael said: “An important part of the discussions at the moment is about the legality of the various options on the table. I have to be candid and say a number of the options do not come risk-free nor without the threat of legal challenge.”
He said the threats could come from the European Commission, which may launch infraction proceedings if it viewed the moves as against EU law.
Farming interests in other parts of the UK could also take action if they felt discriminated against, as could other devolved administrations.
He declined to discuss the specifics of the talks on how UK CAP budgets may be split.
He was, however, pursuing a case that he said was “in the best interests of Scottish farming and rural communities”.
NFU president Nigel Miller said securing the extra cash would be a “game changer” and give Scotland an early prize from Cap reforms, as it could mean more aid going to specific regions.
That applied equally to the budget from which coupled aid will eventually be delivered to help what many expect will be solely the beef sector.
Mr Carmichael added: “I am completely aware of that argument (on the extra £195m), and I am not without sympathy for the force of it.”
The talks around the kitchen table at Braeside were principally on CAP reforms and outstanding issues.
Mr Adam, the NFU north-east regional board chairman, raised concerns about changes to feed-in tariffs for renewable energy.
On repatriating the £1.4m in meat levies lost from Scotland to other parts of the UK, Mr Miller said the ball was now firmly in the court of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.
It appeared reluctant to have a joint decision-making process with other meat levy organisations on how the cash it received from Scottish and Welsh livestock producers could be spent for the benefit of all through research and development work, in export promotion, or on focusing on securing veterinary protocols to open up new international markets to British beef.