This set out the Scottish Government's proposal to take a phased approach to future rural policy development in the context of the UK's exit from the European Union, moving from the current EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) regime to a new rural policy for Scotland through:
An initial period of "stability", with little change to the current CAP schemes and policies, until the end of 2020, followed by;
A period of "simplicity" from 1 January 2021 to approximately 2024, during which simplifications and improvements would be made to the current CAP schemes and policies and potential new schemes for longer term rural policy could also be piloted.