Press Release - NBA Scotland fully supports the recent announcement to support beef farmers in the hills

NBA Scotland fully supports the recent announcement to support beef farmers in the hills. 

The Scottish Council of the NBA welcomes the announcement made today by the Rural Affairs Secretary, Mr. Lochhead, to provide funding support to beef farmers struggling in disadvantaged areas in Scotland under Article 68.  

This is a major step in the right direction and will certainly help beef farmers, who produce some of the best suckler calves in the country, to continue to provide high quality beef for the Scotch beef brand. 

The NBA has always supported and encouraged the Scottish Government to pursue the use of Article 68 funding to help support beef farmers ever since the launch of the Pack enquiry and does appreciate the recognition of the issues by Mr. Lockhead.  The Scottish Government is the only government within the UK structure who has had the foresight to use the Article 68 funding option and deliver this to the industry.  

Although contested by other stakeholders the NBA held firm to the position that Article 68 funding must go to suckler bred calves containing 75% beef genetics and should not be diluted to include a greater percentage of dairy bred calves.  It also supported the concept of paying a large proportion of the funding for the first 10 eligible calves.   

The new scheme coming in January 2012 will bridge the gap caused by the end of the old Scottish beef calf scheme and the introduction of new proposals that may come in after 2013.  If the calf scheme had stopped at the end of 2011, the government would have had an administrative nightmare trying to pay back any outstanding amounts to the farmer beneficiaries who had contributed to the old calf scheme and this welcome announcement today has avoided this issue.   

For more information contact: Kim Haywood, NBA, 0131 336 1754/07967 698936