Many will welcome the increase in payments in the Scottish Upland Support Scheme, which is a lifeline for hill farmers and crofters who produce much of our nation’s breeding stock. It’s just a pity the increase came due to the sad state of hill sheep.

Hill sheep confidence is low, as animals move from hard hills to more productive upland farms. This has been the pattern since ewe payments were stopped, and the issue was discussed in Steven Thomson’s (SRUC) paper, Farming’s Retreat from the Hills, published in 2008.

Sadly, all the Brexit uncertainty has locked-in scheme rules for the next couple of years. This is a travesty, as too many farmers are receiving level five penalties for minor errors, eating up their claim. For example, if you out-winter your hoggs and the winterer forgets to notify you they shifted the sheep to a neighbouring farm, you get the high jump.

Fergus Ewing’s much-promised simplification agenda seems to be frozen in time and has delivered very little, as we come to a standstill while Brexit negotiations play out.

It is paramount that such schemes are at the top of the pile for improvements post-Brexit. We must remember region three farmers and crofters carried the can for the rest of the industry by undertaking a bureaucratic, coupled scheme rather than a higher area payment.