Scotland CAP payments revealed under FOI request
The amount of money Scotland paid out to claimants in 2022 under the Scottish Common Agricultural Policy has been revealed following a Freedom of Information request.
Despite a ceiling of around £500,000 that can be paid for the Basic Area Payment the highest total payment was almost £3.4 million, while the top 10 payments were almost £1.2 million and above.
The majority of the top 10 payments were large estates, landowners and charities with payments from environmental schemes and significant amounts of tree planting.
Republic of Ireland increase TB compensation rates
The Republic of Ireland Minister of Agriculture has announced a suite of increases in farmer compensation arising from a TB breakdown on their farm, along with a payment for pre-movement testing.
The announcement sees increases to the income supplement, hardship grant, and depopulation grant, with all supplements increasing by over 25% for dairy cows and from 18-25% for suckler animals.
TB vaccination in cattle trials
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) began the first phase of trials into the performance and safety of a new Detecting Infected among Vaccinated Animals (DIVA) skin test to detect bTB in unvaccinated livestock in 2021. The results of phase one are currently being analysed.
Phase two consists of an active field trial that will assess the safety of the CattleBCG vaccine and the safety and performance of the DIVA skin test when applied to vaccinated cattle. If this phase of testing is successful, the UK could come one step closer to safely and successfully vaccinating cattle against bTB.
Farmers are being invited to take part in the tests, subject to their farms meeting inclusion criteria. The trials are expected to be completed before the end of the year.
European Commission to activate agricultural reserve fund
€56 million of additional support financed by the agricultural reserve is being planned to be used to support Poland, Bulgaria and Romania. The support is expected to compensate affected farmers for the economic loss due to increased imports of cereals and oilseeds from Ukraine.
Increased imports from Ukraine are causing disruption to national and regional markets in bordering countries with pressure on prices due to oversupply.
It is proposed to allocate €29,5 million to Poland, €16,75 to Bulgaria and €10,05 million to Romania with payments made to farmers by 30th September 2023. The 3 affected countries can also co-finance the aid by up to 100% increasing the possible additional aid available to €112 million.