Official statistics have shown that farm income has reached its lowest level in five years. In 2013-14 the average Farm Business Income was £31,000, down £600 on last year and 25 per cent (£10,000) over the past five years.
Conservative Spokesperson on the Rural Economy, Murdo Fraser MSP, wants the SNP to drop its ideologically-driven policy on Land Reform and concentrate instead on improving the competitiveness of Scottish agriculture.
The Member for Mid-Scotland and Fife firmly believes that these latest statistics must act as a wake-up call for the Scottish Government and has called on them to deliver an alternate to their current digital CAP application process, following concerns about the accessibility of the online application.
Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser said:
“I regularly engage with the farming community in Perth and Kinross, Fife and Stirling and farmers are clear about what they need; less regulation and more support to drive up productivity. The fact that farm incomes have dropped by a quarter in the past five years should serve as a big wake-up call to Ministers in Edinburgh.
“Above all the SNP latest obsession with Land Reform is proving a distraction from what they should be doing. Just last week Scottish Land and Estates produced evidence that showed land reform could cost as much as £600m to implement, money that could be spent on making a real difference to rural Scotland.
“Furthermore, by digitalising the CAP application process the Scottish Government has made accessing European funding inherently more complicated. As of last week only 53 farming businesses have successfully registered online. 22,000 are required to do so by the middle of May.
“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.”