First payment due under farm loan scheme

More than 11,000 farmers and crofters will this week start to see their share of £275.80 million due under the Scottish government’s upfront farm support loan scheme hit their bank accounts – provided they have ‘opted in’ and supplied the correct details.

The financial support, which is vital to many businesses, will be made through the 2021 National Basic Payment Support Scheme announced by the Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon in August. The loan scheme provides eligible Scottish farmers and crofters access an advance payment of up to 95 per cent of their 2021 CAP BPS and Greening payment, restricted to the maximum of £133,638.

Gougeon said that the Scottish government was committed to supporting farmers and crofters through the recovery from Covid-19 and to overcome the challenges presented by Brexit.

“To help aid business cash flow and maintain vital cash flow within the rural economy, we have launched the 2021 National Basic Payment Support Scheme (NBPSS21) loan scheme,” said Gougeon.

“This is the first year farmers and crofters have been able to accept their loan offer online and doing it this way is the quickest and easiest way for them to get their payments. The online acceptance has been a great success with more than 70 per cent of those eligible having used this process.”

The cabinet secretary added, however, that a small number of people applying by paper were not supplying the correct information and warned that this could cause delays in them receiving their payment.