Question reference: S6W-26990
- Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 24 April 2024
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Current status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 7 May 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on (a) the uptake and (b) any assessment that it has made of the effectiveness of the Small Producers Pilot Fund, since it was launched.
Answer
The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands launched the Small Producer Pilot Fund in December 2023 with £180,000 of funding in financial year 2023-2024 for two small-scale abattoir projects, a new information resource webpage for small producers, to develop a framework to assess small producer data, and to procure a service to deliver training courses for small producers. We are currently assessing the outcomes of the abattoir work and the website will launch shortly. This Government remains fully committed to supporting economically active small producers with £1 million in 2024-25 through the Small Producer Pilot Fund.