The first tranche of Basic Payment Scheme loan payments has been distributed to farmers and crofters this week.

Nearly 11,000 eligible applicants were reported to receive a cumulative total of £254m. A second tranche was scheduled to go out at the end of this week.

“These payments mean over 10,600 farmers and crofters will now have received up to 90% of their entitlement earlier than ever before,” Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said. “Although the deadline has now passed for applicants to be in the first tranche of payments, farmers can still apply for a loan, and we would encourage them to return their applications as soon as possible. Work continues to ensure all eligible businesses who have not yet been offered a loan, receive an offer by the end of October – these businesses can then expect payment before the end of November.”

Mystery payment solved

Separately, the mystery payment titled “gov emerge” which arrived in farmers’ accounts on Friday 13 October has been confirmed as financial discipline.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “This is reimbursement of financial discipline for the scheme year 2016. Local area offices are aware of these payments and can offer farmers more information if needed.”

Financial discipline is a method of deducting money from farm payments to build a reserve for crisis funding, any unspent money at the end of the financial year is then returned to farmers.