EUROPEAN Commission proposals for allowing member states discretion in the delivery of support to agriculture have been condemned by National Farmers' Union of Scotland's hill-farming convener John Scott as ''an admission that they cannot make the single market work''.

The proposed move towards ''national envelopes'' in Agenda 2000 would destroy the concept of the single market, he told a meeting of the union's Ayr area executive.

The re-introduction of a national element, giving individual governments discretion on how they choose to allocate up to 30% of support in specific sectors, could lead to more picketing of ports, he warned.

''Farmers will feel let down by their government if they think another sector has been allowed to benefit at their expense. It will be a recipe for disenchantment and disharmony.''

NFUS commodity director Scott Walker said there was concern that the regulation covering national envelopes was discretionary rather than compulsory.

There was a possibility that under the terms of the Fontainebleau Agreement, the Government might conclude it could save money for the Treasury by opting not to take up the national envelope. That would increase the rebate which could be claimed on payments to Europe.

The proposed amendments to the Common Agricultural Policy would also introduce an opportunity for some payments to be switched from a headage basis (per animal) to an area basis (per acre). Such a move, suggested area president Henry Murdoch, could turn farmers into glorified park-keepers.

''Area payments are what you would move to if you want to take the moral high ground in the next round of WTO talks, because they are de-coupled from production,'' said Walker.

On the face of it, Scottish farms could benefit from this because they have less animals per business than in England and Wales. However, England would doubtless put up every possible argument to prevent more money being transferred to Scotland.

The best strategy, he said, would be to fight for 100% compensation each step of the way as the EU moved towards world prices. During that process support payments should still be linked to animals.

''Once we have moved to world prices it doesn't make sense to put restrictions on farmers. At that stage I believe we should move to area payments.''

John Scott pointed out, however, that headage payments made it possible to manage the market more efficiently, with statistics on how many animals were coming through the system.

Area secretary Howard Jefferson called on farmers to rally behind the union in the present crisis: ''If we don't have the NFUS to negotiate us through Agenda 2000, we won't have an industry at all. Anyone who is talking about not renewing his subscription should think about it very carefully.''