CAP payment crisis
Responding to the announcement by Scottish Ministers of a £200million cash advance for farmers caught up in the CAP payment crisis, Mark Ruskell, Rural Affairs, Food and Environment spokesperson for the Scottish Greens and MSP candidate for Mid-Scotland and Fife, said:
"While this 11th hour intervention by ministers is to be welcomed, the Scottish Government has demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the realities facing small farmers.
"Scottish farmers have had to endure the wettest winter on record, leading to falling yields and crashing farm incomes. This burden has fallen particularly heavily on small farmers and crofters who do not have cash flow to cope with such a difficult period.
"While it is widely accepted that CAP needs reform, at present it gives vital support to a sector that is increasingly beset by rising costs and the seemingly impossible demands of large supermarket chains. Small rural businesses should not be made to pay the price of government ineptitude.”