Scottish farmers saw their income fall by 18% last year as a result of poor cereal and potato prices, according to statistics released by the Scottish Government.
Despite this sharp drop there was positive news for Scottish fruit farmers, many of whom are located in Perthshire and Fife, as they saw their income increase by £40 million over the past twelve months.
Falling farm income has been further hampered by the Scottish Government’s botched basic payment system which has seen thousands of farmers make do without CAP funding.
Murdo Fraser has called on the Scottish Government to do more to make payments to Scottish farmers after failing to meet their commitment to dole out funding to a quarter of farms by the end of 2015.
Commenting Murdo Fraser MSP said:
“The fact that farm incomes have dropped for the second year in succession should act as a big wake-up call to Ministers in Edinburgh.
“I speak regularly with farmers across Perth and Kinross, Fife and Stirling and they are clear about what they need; less regulation and more support to drive up productivity.
“The Scottish Government’s disastrous basic payment scheme has seen thousands of farmers left without funding at a critical point in the year and these latest statistics will heap further misery on the sector.
“Bad weather coupled with delayed CAP payments has left many farmers across the region facing insolvency which is simply not good enough and Richard Lochhead has serious questions to answer.
“The Scottish Government needs to come up with a proper plan for farmers in Perth and Kinross, Fife, Stirling and Clackmannanshire otherwise their central-belt focus will continue to fail rural Scotland.”