There appears to be a burgeoning second-hand trade in Single Farm Payments in Scotland. Farmers who retire or cut back on their activities are still entitled to certain SFP claims. Under present rules, they can then sell their entitlements onto farmers eager to expand.
Ian Hope, of consultants Hayes McCubbin Macfarlane, has now launched his own eBay-style portal for trading in payments. A date is set for the actual sale, but bidders have the opportunity in the interim of adjusting their commitment.
Demand from new entrants for the service is said to have been fierce.
An additional problem is that speculators, many of whom are non-UK residents, have moved into the market. SFP is increasingly viewed as a sound business investment.
At the recent annual general meeting of NFU Scotland in Dunblane, Jim Stewart, who farms extensively in Aberdeenshire, suggested that every sale of SFP should be subject to a ‘siphon’. These entitlements would then be placed in a ‘national reserve’ to which young farmers could apply for what is basically a right to farm. This idea is said to have not gone down well with many of the older generation.
