Support Talking-up Scotland's work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method - Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421
Professor John Robertson OBA
With a headline utterly untouchable by the rest of the ‘Scottish’ media, The Scottish Farmer had this yesterday:
Scottish farmers spared cliff edge as English face cuts – Scottish farmers have been assured they will not face a funding ‘cliff edge’, as new figures reveal thousands of their English counterparts could be left without support at the end of this year.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed that 5820 farmers in England face uncertainty when the Countryside Stewardship grant scheme comes to an end. With funding for the replacement Sustainable Farming Incentive still incomplete, the NFU has warned that many farmers are being forced to abandon long-standing projects that supported biodiversity and environmental management.
The Scottish Government has pledged to maintain a range of support measures, including reformed direct payments and the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS), designed to deliver sustainable food production while protecting the environment. Ministers say this commitment will provide much-needed stability to a sector under pressure.
BBC Scotland has nothing on this. Their last farming story was: ‘Farmer claims sea eagles snatched his five Shetland ponies’
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Sorry about this but if in Scotland Sarwar would be all over it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1dq75ve6xet
LikeLiked by 1 person
Meanwhile in Wales …. From July 15: ‘NFU Cymru says improvements to SFS overshadowed by cliff edge transition’.
(https://www.nfu-cymru.org.uk/news-and-information/nfu-cymru-says-improvements-to-sfs-overshadowed-by-cliff-edge-transition/)
‘Welsh Government’s decision to slash the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) by 40% for 2026 overshadows much of the positive work undertaken to improve the new Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS), says NFU Cymru.’
‘Welsh Government has confirmed its intention to reduce the BPS to 60% of current payment levels in 2026, having previously reassured farmers that there would be no ‘cliff edge’ in funding through the transition to new schemes. Last November, Welsh Government reiterated that it was still its intention to phase out the BPS during the transition period through an incremental reduction in value (20% per year) starting in 2026. NFU Cymru believes that reneging on this commitment in today’s announcement overshadows much of the positive work undertaken to improve the SFS following the highly controversial ‘Keep farmers farming’ consultation of late 2023 / early 2024. ‘ (my emphasis)
‘NFU Cymru President Aled Jones said: “This unwelcome decision by Welsh Government is extremely worrying for farmers in Wales who had previously been informed that those opting not to enter the new Sustainable Farming Scheme in 2026 would receive 80% of their BPS. Farming businesses have forward planned on this basis.
“This development is even more of a blow given significant guidance and technical detail is yet to be published which farmers need if they are to make informed decisions about whether to enter the scheme from 1 January 2026. With harvest well underway and next year’s cropping and livestock purchases already in motion, many farmers will not be able to pivot their business to join the new scheme from January. Farming families are also grappling with difficult conversations and decisions on how to restructure their businesses to address the changes being forced upon them by the introduction of the UK Government’s family farm tax from April 2026. With Welsh Government now slashing the first year of the tapered transition from the BPS, many will feel they are now stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
LikeLiked by 3 people