Santos report may benefit Scots farmers

Members of the European Parliament agriculture committee are continuing to express their unhappiness with the commissions’ proposals on reforming the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), writes Andrew Arbuckle.

The latest moves will come from a heavily leaked report prepared by a member of the committee, Luis Capoulas Santos, setting out the changes he wants.

George Lyon, the Liberal Democrat MEP, who has seen the report, said he expected a number of changes that would benefit Scottish farmers.

“In particular, he [Santos] will want to make 2009-11 the qualifying period for farmers to receive the new single farm payment [SFP] area-based entitlements which will help ensure that many farmers are not excluded from the new system just because they did not have an SFP claim in 2011.”

Another move relevant to Scotland is a suggestion that member states moving from historic to area-based payments would have greater flexibility in the changeover.

The report will go to the committee on 18 June. Amendments will be voted on in November.