McArthur shares concerns over the future of LFASS

4.48.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 22nd Apr 2009

Orkney MSP, Liam McArthur, has added his voice to those who are concerned that the European Commission’s proposals for the reform of the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme, (LFASS), could damage Scottish agriculture.

Liam McArthur said, “The Commission’s aim, that the LFASS aid should go to genuinely less favoured areas, is hard to oppose. But the simplified system of soil and climate criteria will not achieve that and is rightly causing grave concern. It seems that it will not recognise the complexities of the challenges Scottish farmers and crofters face.Liam McArthur MSP: Orkney

“It is not just the worries that the subtle combinations of soil and climate conditions, which make farming across most of Scotland a challenge, will be missed by the proposed simplified assessment system. It is also the concern that to ignore other factors, such as distance from markets and the high costs of services in remoter areas, would mean that many facing the challenges the Commission supposedly wants to address will lose out. The hard won gains made under previous Governments, such as the recognition of the challenges faced by island crofters and farmers, must not be lost.

“It is important that Scottish politicians, farmers, crofters and indeed others with an interest in the sustainable future of our countryside work constructively together to make sure that the LFASS continues to deliver aid to the great many Scottish farmers and crofters working in genuinely less favoured areas.”