A letter sent by the Chancellor to fellow EU finance ministers has prompted an angry response from NFU Scotland and SNP MEP Alyn Smith.

Alistair Darling's letter calls for the abolition of all import tariffs on agricultural commodities and an end to direct payments to farmers to address food inflation and food security concerns - before any negotiations have commenced.

Smith said: "This is yet another demonstration of how the UK government is just not working in the interests of Scotland's farmers and growers.

"This agriculturally illiterate proposal is ill-considered, ill-timed and from a Brussels perspective, breathtakingly naive."

He added: "To say that this move is unwise is an understatement of the highest order. This step by the Chancellor is nothing short of incompetent. While the CAP has its faults, the upcoming Health Check in the European Parliament provides an open forum in which we can address these flaws."

NFUS President Jim McLaren said: "I find it remarkable that as we are about to enter negotiations on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, that the UK treasury would undermine the UK government's credibility by making suggestions for reform that are so out of touch with reality.

"Going into important negotiations, such statements make the UK look like a voice in a wilderness.

"The UK Treasury has slipped back into its simplistic scrap the CAP' mindset. There is a perfectly justifiable debate to be had over the role of import tariffs.

"However, it is complete hypocrisy to push for a trade deal that takes no account of food production standards and would actually damage the very businesses in this country going the extra mile to deliver public benefit."

He continued: "The irony is that the UK Treasury's policy on the future of the CAP is more likely to cause food inflation and food security problems than address them.

"We need a farm support structure that is based on securing all the public benefits delivered by agriculture - and food production is top of that list.

"However, in an increasingly volatile world, if the Treasury wants to sign off on a trade deal that significantly undermines the productive capacity of Scottish and UK farming, they will leave this country hugely vulnerable."

SAC issues worm warning for lambs Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) Disease Surveillance Centres have warned flock owners that Nematodirus battus worms could be a particular problem for lambs as they start to eat more grass.

The risk of losses increases when a cold period in the spring is followed by a warm spell, leading to a mass hatching of eggs on pasture.

This year spring temperatures were slow to rise so it is anticipated that a simultaneous hatch of N battus larvae will occur from early May onwards, posing a threat to lambs from six-weeks-old all over Scotland.

Early cases of the worm infestation have already been recorded in Caithness, the Borders and Ayrshire.

N battus worms can cause a number of problems including sudden deaths, watery scour and ill thrift in survivors.

The parasite can kill lambs before eggs appear in faeces, therefore if unexplained deaths occur in lambs, in order to diagnose or exclude the condition, freshly dead carcasses should be submitted to SAC Disease Surveillance Centres for post-mortem examination.