EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan has promised a “fairer system” for penalties and rule-breaking under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). He said the announcement is intended to further simplify the CAP and reduce stress for farming families.

Hogan’s headline measure is the introduction of a ‘yellow card system’ which would offer a warning to those who fall foul of CAP rules for the first time, cutting their fines in half. The proposed measure comes in response to farmers’ concerns that they are being "caught out” by authorities when it comes to form-filling and penalties, the Commissioner said.

Other proposals include allowing farmers to make amendments to their applications, following a preliminary check, for up to 35 days after the final deadline without incurring any penalties and introducing a simpler method for penalising those over-declaring land. This will create a flat-rate penalty of 1.5 times the area over-declared (beyond a threshold of 3 percent of the area declared, or two hectares, which is not currently penalised).

Commissioner Hogan insisted that the simplifications are “Not about letting farmers ‘off the hook’” but stand to end a “Climate of fear” for farming families and reduce the number of errors in the application process. He said the proposals would shift the emphasis on national authorities from "policing" farmers to “actively aiding them in ensuring that their forms are accurate.”

He said, “This way, farmers only receive the aid to which they are entitled  – no more and no less.  This is fair play for farmers and equally importantly, fair play for taxpayers – fewer errors equals less risk to the sound financial management of the CAP.”

If MEPs approve of the plans they could come into force this year.

Yesterday, as Scottish rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead called for a fairer distribution of CAP funds for Scotland, which he said need to be negotiated from within the  EU, Europe’s Agriculture Commissioner told journalists in Brussels that it is for the UK to settle its own CAP budget issues.

Speaking after Scottish government figures showed that farm incomes in Scotland had fallen to their lowest level in over a decade due to two consecutive years of decline, Mr Lochhead said Scotland needs “A fairer share of funding from a simpler and more streamlined CAP with food production at its core,” and added, “It is clearly in the best interests of Scottish farming to stay in Europe.”

However, the agriculture Commissioner said he would not involve EU executives in a spat over monies intended to bring Scottish subsidies into line with the European average, but which have not been paid by Whitehall. Under pressure from MSPs, Defra ministers have said they will look again at the allocation of Convergence uplift payments, but this review may not happen for another 18 months.