Farmers can expect a decision on whether Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) payments will be distributed by loans early in the new year, Cabinet Secretary for the Economy Fergus Ewing has said.

“We will come back at the very beginning of next year to make a decision,” Ewing told Farmers Journal Scotland. “If we need to have a loan scheme we will, and the aim is to make payments around April/May. If it appears to me that there is a serious issue with our capacity to do that, we will have a loan scheme. That announcement will be made in January or February.”

Problems with the IT system in recent years have prompted payments being distributed by loans. Approximately 12,000 farmers apply for LFASS payments annually. The 2016 payments went out in September and October this year.