Farmers condemn cuts to green subsidies

Farmers in Scotland ‘condemn’ the UK Government’s decision to cut subsidies for renewable projects. They have joined forces with renewable groups to highlight how the change in policies could harm them. It comes […]

Farmers in Scotland ‘condemn’ the UK Government’s decision to cut subsidies for renewable projects.

They have joined forces with renewable groups to highlight how the change in policies could harm them.

It comes as a consultation on changes to the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme ends today, which could lead funding cuts on solar (87%), wind (100%) and hydropower (31%) projects.

Industry body Scottish Renewables, the National Farmers Union (NFU) Scotland and Glasgow-based wind turbine manufacturer Gaia-Winds claim major cuts to a scheme which support small-scale renewable energy are the latest blow to farmers already hit by low prices.

Gemma Thomson, NFU Scotland’s Legal and Technical Policy Manager said the companies have written a letter to DECC explaining their concerns.

She added: “These proposals will end many on-farm renewable plans and severely limit the number of new projects that will come forward in the future. The knock-on effect for farm businesses will be that a previously viable way of dividing risk and reducing exposure to price volatility will no longer be an option.”

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