Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Farmers urged to make most of aid scheme

A crisis fund of £2.4 million is available to dairy farmers
A crisis fund of £2.4 million is available to dairy farmers

Scottish milk producers are at risk of missing out on European support funds if they don’t apply for a dairy aid scheme before the end of the month.

An EU crisis fund of £2.4 million is available to Scotland’s 900 dairy farmers. However, to date only 20% of producers have applied for payments, which range from £1,000 to £4,000.

The money is Scotland’s share of the EU’s £350 million dairy market stabilisation scheme which was launched last year.

It is linked to improving efficiency, so producers who apply are required to commit to simple production profiling and milk recording in order to qualify. An estimated two-thirds of Scottish dairy herds already milk record on a regular basis.

Under the terms of the Scottish scheme, the highest payment rate of £4,000 is available to farmers on Bute, Arran, Mull, and the Kintyre peninsula to protect the supply base for Campbeltown creamery.

Farmers who were paid a milk price of less than 20p per litre during 2016 can receive £3,250; farmers who were receiving less than 25p could get £2,000 each, while those farmers who received 25p per litre or more can receive £1,000.
NFU Scotland milk policy manager George Jamieson urged producers to ‘crack on’ with applying for the money before May 1.

He said: “Scottish dairy farmers cannot afford to miss out on the financial support currently available to them through this scheme. With feed and fertiliser prices rising, and milk prices levelling off, this is money that will be welcome to all.”

Mr Jamieson pointed out that this money was the second stage of the EU’s attempt the stabilise the dairy market.

“To secure those funds, Europe has insisted that producers commit to actions that will help them cope with future market volatility,” he said.

“The Scottish Government, in consultation with industry stakeholders including NFUS, has agreed that simple production profiling and milk recording are appropriate.

“These both offer opportunities to manage, with more certainty, milk production in line with market needs, and create a vast amount of data that will be useful to the individual farmer and the sector.”

Mr Jamieson urged all producers to get a copy of the application form,
read the guidance and apply for the funding.

An application form can be downloaded electronically or requested from local SGRPID offices.

Guidance on the scheme is also available from the Scottish Dairy Hub.

nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk