The Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) has long played a critical role in sustaining agricultural activity and supporting rural communities across Scotland’s most fragile and remote areas. For many farmers and crofters operating in challenging environments, it remains a cornerstone of financial stability and a key tool in maintaining livestock production where it might otherwise be at risk.
However, the scheme in its current form is increasingly out of step with the realities of modern farming. Payments are still based on historic livestock data from 2009, creating a growing disconnect between the support provided and the level of agricultural activity taking place today. As farming businesses evolve, whether through expansion, contraction, or generational change, the rigidity of this historic baseline is clearly disadvantaging some of the most active farmers and crofters.
Drawing a Line Under Rebasing
NFUS recognises that concerns around rebasing LFASS have persisted for many years, and we wrote to Cabinet Secretary Mairi Gougeon in May 2023, calling for this to be taken forward. In principle, updating the scheme to reflect current activity seems logical. In practice, however, it presents significant challenges.
Repeated refusals from the Scottish Government to pursue rebasing, combined with the legislative and technical complexity such reform would require, have led NFUS LFA Committee to take a pragmatic stance: the time has come to draw a line under rebasing.
Attempting to overhaul the existing framework would not only demand substantial time and resource, but also risk unintended consequences; particularly the redistribution of support in ways that could destabilise vulnerable businesses. At a time when the sector needs clarity and progress, continuing to pursue rebasing risks becoming a distraction from more achievable and immediate solutions.
Addressing the Underspend: A Practical Opportunity
While rebasing may be off the table, there is a more immediate and actionable issue that must be addressed: the consistent underspend within the LFASS budget.
In a sector where many active farmers and crofters feel under-supported, leaving allocated funds unused represents a missed opportunity. NFUS is therefore calling for a more targeted and strategic use of this underspend to better reflect current farming realities.
NFUS calls for:
• Utilisation of LFASS underspend to better “level up” active businesses
• Support targeted at active farmers and crofters with significantly increased stocking levels, and new entrants disadvantaged by historic baselines
• Introduction of a simple case-by-case review or appeals mechanism to address clear anomalies.
This approach provides a pragmatic, achievable alternative to rebasing while ensuring funding reaches those delivering real agricultural activity. This would provide a fairer distribution of funding without the need for full-scale reform of the scheme.
Looking Ahead: Building a Modern Support Framework
Beyond immediate fixes, NFUS supports the Scottish Government’s broader ambition to develop a modernised agricultural support framework. However, for this transition to be meaningful, it must deliver tangible improvements for those actively farming the land.
A future system must:
• Prioritise genuine, active agricultural activity
• Reflect the diversity of Scotland’s regions and land types
• Base support on current, rather than historic, production levels
• Be implemented in a timely manner to prevent further loss of agricultural capacity
Crucially, it must strike a balance, supporting both productivity and the sustainability of extensive systems that are vital to Scotland’s landscape and rural economy, and which underpin rural communities.
Guiding Principles for Future Support
As discussions around future policy continue, NFUS believes several core principles should underpin any new approach to Less Favoured Area support:
• Funding must be directed toward active farmers and crofters
• Systems should be data-driven, proportionate and regularly updated
• Complexity should be minimised, while still recognising land diversity
• New entrants and generational renewal must be supported
• Livestock numbers in fragile areas must be maintained to sustain rural infrastructure and communities
Conclusion
While the concept of rebasing LFASS may once have offered a pathway to fairness, it is no longer a viable or productive route forward. The priority now must be to make the existing system work better in the short term, while shaping a more responsive and equitable framework for the future.
By focusing on the targeted use of underspend and advocating for a system that reflects real-world agricultural activity, NFUS is continuing to press the case for its members - ensuring that support reaches those who need it most: active farmers and crofters at the heart of Scotland’s rural communities.