£17m Scottish food and drink Covid support funds open
© Tim Scrivener Farmers in Scotland who supply the hospitality sector with food and drink and have encountered hardship because of Covid-19 restrictions may be able to apply for new funding.
The Scottish government is making £2m available to support primary and secondary food producers through the Scottish Food and Drink Producers Fund.
An additional £15m has been set aside to fund the Scottish Wholesale Food and Drink Resilience Fund.
See also: Additional Covid-19 support could help farm businesses
The Scottish Food and Drink Producers Fund will provide grants for producers who encountered hardship because of heightened restrictions introduced by the Scottish government between 8 December 2021 and 24 January 2022 in response to the Omicron variant.
Producers will need to show evidence of the financial loss they incurred because of any orders that were cancelled once restrictions were put in place.
The amount of money applicants will receive will be calculated on a case-by-case basis and will be discretionary.
Wholesale fund
The Scottish Wholesale Food and Drink Resilience Fund will be split, with £10m of support for wholesalers affected during the period of restrictions from January 2021 to August 2021.
The other £5m will be channelled to those affected by the public health restrictions that were introduced in December 2021 and continued in January 2022.
Both funds opened for applications on 28 January 2022 and will close at midnight on 13 February 2022.
Rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon said the funds would provide a vital lifeline to businesses.