Routemap and list of draft measures published for Agri Reform Programme (ARP)

A route map and list of draft measures has been published by The Scottish Government which provides further clarity on how they intend to deliver the ambitions set out in the Vision for Agriculture, published in March 2022.

The Agriculture Reform Route Map sets out the timescales for information and interaction with the agricultural industry. As progress is continued to be made with the Agriculture Reform Programme there will be further opportunities to share key information with farmers, crofters and landowners to help them plan and prepare for the changes the programme will deliver from 2025.

Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands said:

"To deliver the ambitions set out in the Scottish Government’s Vision for Agriculture, published in March 2022, Scotland will have a support framework that delivers high quality food production, climate mitigation and adaptation, and nature restoration.

High quality, nutritious food locally and sustainably produced is key to our wellbeing – in economic, environmental, social and health terms. We will support and work with farmers and crofters to meet more of our own food needs sustainably and to farm and croft with nature.

We remain committed to ensuring that tenant farmers, smallholders, crofters, new entrants and land managers are given equality of opportunity to allow them to play a key role in making our Vision for Agriculture a reality.

We will work with the agriculture industry both through the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB) and other industry stakeholder groups to meet our shared objectives, building on the excellent work completed by our successful Farmer-Led Groups (FLGs) initiative".

The Scottish Government will continue to work on the Future Support Framework and engaged with the sector through representative bodies and a cohort of individual farmers and the existing framework of support will continue in 2023 and 2024 to provide stability to Farmers and Crofters.

A new Scottish Agriculture Bill will be introduced to Parliament in 2023 to provide a replacement framework for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which will seek to provide an adaptive framework, to replace the current CAP framework, and support farmers, crofters and land managers to overcome the challenges they face. In 2025 new conditions will be applied to some of the existing schemes that you are applying for and we plan to provide more information on those conditions in June 2023.

More information about the actions teh sector will need to take in 2026 will be announced in June 2024. This route map will be updated as more information becomes available and if things change information will be made available clearly and quickly.

You can find and download the routemap here

Further information about the Agricultural Reform Programme, can be found at Rural Payments and Services website.