Scottish farmers and crofters can now read the rules for the 2026 Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS), published on 19 October, Farmers Weekly reports. Agriculture minister Jim Fairlie confirmed a £14.25m fund, with grants of up to £20,000 per farm or croft regardless of size, at rates from 50% to 100%; the top rate is reserved for specified environmental projects.
The application window, to be announced in early November, opens later this year, and applications go online through Rural Payments and Services, which will be offline from 23 December to 6 January. Businesses must be registered with the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division and have claimed eligible support on their 2026 Single Application Form. Applications will be scored and ranked, and applying early brings no advantage.
The first round in 2025 went badly. Only 1,672 of 7,584 applications won grants, worth £21.4m. A parliamentary motion from Orkney MSP Liam McArthur showed that almost half (47%) of applications were ineligible, and only 3.7% of Orkney bids and 1.88% of Shetland bids were funded. Officials later found data-handling problems in parts of the validation process, though the government says decisions rested on objective scoring and verified eligibility.
The new guidance abolishes the priority groups that confused applicants last time, so everyone is assessed by the same scoring method, and 2025 recipients can apply again. Successful applicants must buy and complete every approved item within nine months of the offer.
Fairlie acknowledged last year's disappointment and said the government had listened. "I would encourage farmers and crofters to use this to look at what they might qualify for and think about what investment support they could use to make their business more efficient and environmentally sustainable," he said.
Photo: Michal Klajban / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Farmers Weekly
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