SNP leader promises £10million to new entrants

Scottish National Party leader, Alex Salmond, has promised £10 million in annual funding to help new entrants make a start in farming, if the party comes to power.

Speaking at a recent new entrants conference in Edinburgh, he said that current government policy had failed to attract new blood and all obstacles to entry should be removed. “One of these is access to capital at competitive rates.

“Only a mere 8 per cent qualifying for the present national reserve are new entrants to the industry. In contrast, in Northern Ireland we already have a working model of a fully-fledged new entrant’s scheme.”

The £4.5million Northern Ireland scheme allows an interest rate subsidy of up to a maximum of £17,000 and is expected to attract around 600 new entrants in its first year and a further £18million of private investment.

“In Scotland the SNP are prepared to allocate a minimum of £10 million to such an initiative, which may be augmented by European funds,” Mr Salmond said.

“We will open consultations with the industry immediately to ensure that this policy has the desired effect of revitalising the next generation of farming skills for owner, tenant farmers and crofters and attracting new investment.”

He also called for agreement between stakeholders and organisations such as the National Farmers Union, the Scottish Crofting Foundation, the Scottish Business Estates Group and the Scottish Tenants Farmers Association on removing all entry barriers to the industry.