NFU Scotland has called on the Scottish Government to introduce an immediate amnesty on penalties associated with eligibility of land for support schemes.

It follows ongoing uncertainty over what ground is deemed eligible and ineligible, such as grazing land within areas of bracken. NFUS says Scottish farmers have not been given proper guidance on the subject.

“It is unacceptable that a few days from the IACS deadline, thousands of producers are little clearer on the issue of land eligibility than they were a year ago,” NFUS president Jim McLaren said.

“Many remain unaware that areas of bracken, gorse and scree can all be deemed ineligible and are now subject to strict enforcement. Under inspection last year, several farmers in Scotland were caught out by a more rigorous interpretation of eligible and ineligible land.

“A year on and the situation is little improved with no clear guidance in farmers’ hands.”

The union also wants the Scottish Government to give producers the option of recalculating their SFP entitlements, removing ineligible land from their base area. Alternatively, it says they should be able to have their eligible area calculated taking the slope of the land into consideration rather than the flat-mapping system currently. This would free up additional land and allow producers to make full use of their SFP entitlements.

“This is not about trying to circumvent rules,” Mr McLaren said. “This is about the goalposts having shifted and farmers now finding themselves losing support through no fault of their own.”