Few will suffer sheep ID penalties says Richard Lochhead

THE RURAL affairs secretary, Richard Lochhead, yesterday made another attempt to calm the storm that has surrounded the introduction of electronic sheep identification by stating the number of farmers who will receive sheep cross compliance penalties this year was not expected to exceed double figures.

Speaking ahead of a sheep industry stakeholders meeting which he has called for next week, the Cabinet secretary said 90 per cent of those sheep farmers who have already been inspected had passed without penalties.

“Of the 20,000 farmers who are about to receive their single farm payments, the number who will receive sheep cross compliance penalties is not expected to exceed double figures,” he insisted

He claimed this low figure was down to Scottish Government inspectors taking a “proportionate” view of any discrepancies they come across during their on-farm visits.

The meeting next week will also look at the data from the ScotEID pilot, farmers’ experiences and views on practicalities and evidence from cross-compliance inspections so that any future review of the scheme can use the hard gained experience.