Lochhead aims to spread a little calm

After a week where the National Farmers Union of Scotland became very excited about fears that farmers would be prevented from fertilising sloping land and where this concern was repeated and magnified by a number of politicians, Richard Lochhead, Scottish rural affairs minister, has reiterated that rule changes would not result in any extra burden for farmers.

Emerging from what was billed as a special meeting with NFU Scotland but which was one of the regular union meetings with government officials, the minister repeated assurances given earlier this week that proposals to amend Scottish rules regarding fertiliser use would only bring Scotland in line with European Union rules. There would be no additional requirements, he stated.

The initial fears voiced by the union were that if all sloping land greater than that with a 12 per cent incline had to be left unfertilised then a large acreage of Scotland would be rendered useless.

Mr Lochhead said he understood why farmers were concerned when they heard about the proposals for new rules, particularly ones which could have an impact on their livelihood. “But that’s not what is happening here,” he said. “We have simply consulted on ways to ensure our regulations mirror the EU cross-compliance rules which farmers must comply with to receive their single farm payments.”

He promised to carefully consider the consultation responses and take a proportionate approach when amending the regulations.

He promised not to “gold plate’ any European rules so that rules in Scotland went further than those already imposed from Europe.

“Farmers who responsibly follow existing best practice should not be troubled by the new regulations – though those with steeply sloping land, which drains directly into a burn or stream, will require to take extra care.”

Commenting after the meeting, union chief executive Scott Walker said it had been “very constructive”.

“We restated our view that farmers should be able to take a wide range of factors – such as slope, vegetation, weather conditions and application method – into consideration before making the call on whether they can spread safely.

“Following these discussions, it has been clarified that the ruling will only apply to sloping land where the risk of fertiliser, slurry or organic manures entering surface water is a factor, affecting only land which is directly linked to watercourses. Therefore, these regulations will have the same effect as existing cross-compliance rules.”