McArthur leads debate on FFIS funding for islanders

Orkney's MSP Liam McArthur has today led a debate in the Scottish Parliament highlighting the lack of funding allocated to islanders under the Scottish Government's Future Farming Investment Scheme. 

The scheme has been widely criticised after it was revealed that many funding applications made by island businesses, new entrants, and young farmers were unsupported, despite assurances from the Scottish Government that these groups would be prioritised. In Orkney, only 3.2% of applications were successful, accounting for just 3.48% of the overall fund. 

During the debate, Mr McArthur also raised concerns regarding the potential impact of future ‘greening’ proposals on island farm businesses. He warned that Ecological Focus Areas could result in costly interventions that deliver no environmental benefit while reducing herd numbers and making farm businesses less viable. 

Commenting further after the debate, Mr McArthur said:

"When the Future Farming Investment Scheme was announced last summer, it appeared to have the potential to make a real difference for rural and island farm businesses across Scotland. By any measure, however, it has failed to meet expectations or lay the ground for achieving its objectives. 

"Rushing to develop schemes just to allow Ministers to have something to say at the Highland Show is a recipe for disaster. This is just then compounded when farmers are given no explanation of why their application has been rejected.

“While little can be done at this stage to undo the mess of FFIS, Ministers must make sure there is no repeat in future.

“One way of demonstrating that lessons have been learned would be to look again at the approach to Ecological Focus Areas.

"In recent months, farmers in Orkney have been in touch to share their concerns about the expansion of ‘greening’ obligations, which risk duplicating existing agri-environment schemes or simply not working in an Orkney context. These concerns are shared by SRUC.

"It makes no sense to force farmers into spending money to undertake measures that don’t work, deliver no environmental benefit and potentially make farm businesses less viable.

“The higher take up of environmental schemes in Orkney demonstrates the willingness of island farmers to play their part in achieving greater sustainability. Ministers must enable them to continue doing that by adopting approaches that are genuinely ‘island proofed’.”