Views on how farming and crofting can continue to be supported and sustained in ‘less favoured areas’ are being sought from this week. Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead launched a consultation on the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) for 2010-2013. Speaking during a parliamentary debate on hill farming and less-favoured areas, Mr Lochhead said, “We have a clear and ambitious agenda for Scottish agriculture in the 21st century: a dynamic and competitive industry which supports the sustainable, economic growth of our rural communities. Less-favoured areas comprise 85 per cent of our agricultural land and are therefore an integral part of our agenda. LFASS provides £61 million a year to support over 12,500 farming and crofting businesses. The recent loss of livestock from our hills is a matter of serious and growing concern to the Scottish Government. A decline in activity threatens the viability of communities and impacts on food production and our environment. This consultation is therefore vitally important. It will enable us to work in partnership with the industry so we can respond to the challenges we face and ensure hill farming and remote rural communities can look forward to a viable future.” When the Scottish Government submitted the Scottish Rural Development Programme (of which LFASS is a part) to Brussels in summer 2007, changes in the European regulations on LFASS were expected to take effect from January 1, 2010. European approval was therefore sought (and gained) for an interim LFASS to run during 2007, 2008 and 2009.

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29 September 2008
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