A few weeks ago I allowed a farming colleague standing
in theEuro
electionsto place two signs in my hedge
beside the A505 dual carriageway.
He represents a party that believes the UK should take a more
Independent line on European
matters.
The signs' location didn't go unnoticed and I had many calls and
comments from colleagues. One was from a near neighbour and former
rugby playing team-mate who campaigns tirelessly on behalf of UK
farmers and farming. He kindly emailed me a copy of the above
party's manifesto and suggested I should remember from whence
cometh my Single
Farm Payment.
My enthusiasm for things European took a further hit this week
when there was a dull thump on the doormat one morning. Lydia, my
youngest, then struggled to the breakfast table with an enormous
brown envelope containing Brussels' latest contribution to the
mapping saga.
The last nightmare we had with maps, in 2005, took us two years
to sort out and delayed our entry into ELS until 2007.
Conversations with neighbours and colleagues have raised stories
of widespread errors far more numerous and worse than those
experienced when
Rural Land Register maps were first introduced.
A sample of about 20 farmers who had received them revealed that
only one had correct maps - and he had only one field.
Pressure will now be on everyone receiving the latest ones, as
they have only 28 days to return them with their corrections.
Conversations with
RPA
representatives at
Cereals about the need
and reasoning for these new maps produced a lot of shoulder
shrugging, acute embarrassment and the well-worn cliché "it's
Brussels again".
We're having our fourth inspection this month, and I've had no
sympathy from Frances, who reminds me that RPA staff are avid
readers of Farmer Focus.