Fergus Ewing MSP Agriculture industry

CABINET SECRETARY FOR RURAL ECONOMY AND TOURISM

Rural Communities

When I was appointed Rural economy Secretary by the First Minister, I was asked to do two things – to drive forward the rural economy and fix the CAP payments system.

This year, we were able to make basic payments to farmers and crofters at the earliest ever date at the beginning of December. This was after getting most of their funding out through a national loan scheme much earlier in the autumn.

We have now started making LFASS payments at the earliest point in recent years, with most payments made in January. And we are paying out the second tranche of the historic convergence funds which we fought so hard to get repatriated to Scotland at the end of January.

It is all part of the plan to provide as much stability as possible to farming, crofting and rural communities, to cope with the impacts of Brexit. That shows in the budget we have set for 2021-22.

The key focus for the budget is to drive forward recovery from the pandemic and also Brexit. So there will be more money for food and drink and for tourism. I am particularly pleased we got an increase for the rural tourism infrastructure fund to help communities cope with influxes of visitors by improving facilities. We have also increased funding for forestry and woodland creation by 29% - that includes £14.5million to develop the Newton nursery in Moray which is now owned by our national forestry agency, Forestry and Land Scotland. This will help us plant more trees, create more woodland and crucially also provide more jobs and skills in forestry in rural areas, as part of our Green recovery and ambitions for the natural economy.

A group class booking for up to 6 people is the prize.

If you have a piece of furniture the Artisan Bothy could work miracles on or if you would love to buy one of her retail items there is a £20 voucher up for grabs. The choice is yours.

Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival have offered us 4 tickets which will cover entry to their virtual festival for the 5 days.

Here we are another issue and still in lockdown, who would have thought? I hope the amazing prizes that are continually offered by Lifestyle clients cheer you up and give you something to look forward to, I’m sure they do. I am extremely grateful to all my clients for their continued support and to you my readers for your participation. I love reading your e-mails and cards and wish you all good luck again for the following fabulous prizes.

First up we have a £20 voucher for you for the wonderful Kombucha from Gut Feelings. If you haven’t had the opportunity to try it yet here’s your chance.

You could learn to make some delicious dishes to go with your Kombucha with the fabulous cookery classes on offer from Eat with Ailsa.

COMPETITION CODES

KOMBUCHA20

£20 voucher for Kombucha from Gut Feelings.

VIRTUALSOSWF

4 tickets to the virtual festival for the 5 days.

EATCLASSES

Cookery class for a group of 6 from Eat with Ailsa.

ARTISAN20

£20 vocuher towards commission or retail piece from Artisan Bothy.

TIDYCOO10

De-cluttering workshop for up to 10 people with Rosie at The Tidy Coo. And if you are like me and The Tidy Coo, DeCluttering feature hit very close to home you will definitely want to win the talk/workshop for up to 10 people that Rosie has kindly offered to Lifestyle readers.

Email competitions@lifestylemoray.scot with your name, address and contact number or send a postcard to: Lifestyle Magazine, 5 Green Lane, Newmill, Keith AB55 6NX Remember your competition codes and please send multiple entries on one card.

Terms & conditions: All Lifestyle competition prizes are kindly donated by Lifestyle advertisers. There is no entry fee, one e-mail or postcard with the relevant codes is all that is necessary. Winners are chosen at random by a computer generated programme. There is no cash alternative available. Names of winners will be published in the following issue.

Congratulations to our Dec/Jan winners. We receive hundreds of responses and love your letters and emails... Keep ‘em coming. Who knows... It could be you next time. Bearded Chef Amie Blackaby Lossiemouth Danny T Catherine Thomas Forres Vincular Karen McInnes Keith Laura PT Ruth Keir Elgin Torta Maureen Craik Cullen

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