Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale MP David Mundell has welcomed a £6 million funding package for farmers hit by the adverse winter weather.
And he is urging farmers in his largely rural constituency, badly affected by recent spells of bad weather, to apply for a share of the fund.
The fund has opened to applications this week after being announced by Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead last month.
The Weather Aid scheme offers help to those hit by the severe snows but also farmers affected by extreme wet weather in the last year and sandstorms in early May this year.
The application form and detailed guidance is now available on the Scottish government website.
Applications must be made before the closing deadline on 5 July.
Mr Mundell explained that last year’s bad weather had left many farm businesses in a difficult position and the spring of 2013 has been both exceptional and extreme, having had a huge impact on many livestock and arable farmers in the country.
And he revealed that a recent survey had underlined the costs farmers have faced and showed that half of respondents had extended their borrowings in recent weeks with 13% having difficulties in securing further credit.
The funding package recognised that and had been designed to help those who had lost critical numbers of stock or will rear significantly fewer animals this season. It would also assist those who have had to strip out and replant large areas of failed crops.
The MP recently visited farmers in his constituency and heard firsthand how they had been affected by almost two years of bad weather, with the worst snow in living memory coming hard on the heels of a miserably wet summer.
"Farmers are a hard working people, working in often volatile conditions, but these last two years have undoubtedly been a major challenge for the industry, and so I welcome this support package which could be a lifeline for many. Ultimately we will have to wait and see whether the scheme lives up to expectations but my message to local farmers is to apply in the hope the Scottish Government will deliver on their word.
"Some of the worst storms of recent times might now have passed, but they have left in their wake losses for every farming sector, a legacy which will have its full impact this autumn when lambs are sold and crops are harvested," he said.
"The severe weather problems of 2012 and 2013 have impacted not just in these areas but across the whole of Scotland resulting in livestock and crop losses, as well as significantly increased feed requirements."