Scottish CAP and Capping

When the Scottish Government announced its CAP implementation plans back in June, it proposed a ‘cap’ on BPS payments.  This was rather vague but was to be set at €500,000 (around £400,000) ‘part way’ through the transition period to 2019.  The threshold was to be applied after labour costs had been deducted.  However it now seems there has been a change of approach.  The Scottish Government has woken up to the problems of calculating labour costs.  It is now looking likely that a cap of €600,000 will be applied – but without any labour offset.  This has not yet been confirmed by a Ministerial announcement however, so watch this space. 

A further small element of detail on EFAs in Scotland has also come to light.  Field margins will be required to have a width of between 1m and 20m.  Buffer strips will have to have a minimum width of 2m.