Investment of almost £1.6bn investment for agriculture, forestry environment and community projects across Scotland has been announced by the Scottish Executive.
The funding for the Scottish Rural Development Programme will cover the years 2007-2013.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead said:
"This is excellent news for rural communities across the country. Farmers, foresters and environmental interests will all reap enormous benefits.
"In my first action as Cabinet Secretary, I called in key stakeholders to hear at first hand their views on the programme which they all helped to shape.
"Not only am I able to approve the programme in its entirety, Cabinet have agreed to allocate a further £70m Scottish Government funding over seven years to expand it further.
"What we now have is the largest investment programme in history for rural Scotland which will benefit everyone. This will ensure the programme will increase competitiveness in agriculture and forestry, enhance the environment and support rural communities.
"I am pleased the rate of voluntary modulation - the transfer of funds from the Single Farm Payment to Rural Development - will be much lower than some of the speculative figures that have appeared in recent weeks.
"I am also using today's opportunity to announce that we will be going ahead with a £10m package as part of the seven year programme to attract new entrants into farming. New blood is essential to sustain the vitality of Scotland's rural communities."
Voluntary Modulation is the transfer of resources from the Single Farm Payment (Pillar 1 of the Common Agriculture Policy) to the Rural Development Fund (Pillar 2 of the CAP).
The rates of voluntary modulation for Scotland will be submitted to the European Commission as part of the UK submission on or before 12 June.
These rates will be
- 5% in 2007
- 8% in 2008
- 8.5% in 2009
- 9% in each year from 2010-12 inclusive
The investment of £1.59bn over seven years will come from the Scottish Government, the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development and national modulation of the Single Farm Payment.
