Checking through the SPS application form must be one of the most dreaded tasks any farmer has to undertake during the course of the farming year.
And as an agricultural journalist, writing our annual "SPS special" in Farmers Weekly is also one of my least favourite jobs.
First there is the briefing with the RPA - stuck in a small room in Reading with four civil servants, plus two more by video-link from Newcastle, advising me as to this year's changes. (I did feel a bit outnumbered.)
Then there is the job of deciphering my notes and cross-checking this with the briefing notes handed to me at the RPA and the guidance booklet which arrived in the post a few days later.
And then it's time to write it all up - 2500 words of elegant prose on a subject I find, quite frankly, mind-numbingly dull....
Certainly there is a huge amount to take in and distil down into bite sized chunks. But further distillation is always possible, and I'd suggest the following five things are the real nuggets from the whole exercise:
1. There is a new column, C4, called "maximum area eligible for SPS". This follows the mapping update and accounts for any permanent ineligible features such as ponds or buildings. This column must be checked closely.
2. The dates for submitting forms have changed due to the fact the normal 15 May deadline falls on a Saturday. The new deadline for SP5s to arrive is 17 May without penalty, and 11 June with penalty.
3. SPS applications can now be made online, by logging on to DEFRA's Whole Farm Approach website and clicking RPA Online, though you will need to have received a PIN letter to use it.
4. Farmers who have not yet received confirmatory maps from the RPA will still be sent an SP5 form, pre-printed with the latest information held on the land register. Once the confirmatory maps arrive, the farmer will have to update the information on the SP5.
5. There is a new minimum claim size of 1ha, and entitlements must be claimed against once every two years instead of once every three.
In addition, the RPA is teaming up with Farmers Weekly to offer an online advice service. Simply follow this link and post your query on the thread. An RPA expert will aim to answer the query within 48 hours.
And that's it - the abbreviated version for readers of this blog. The full version is to be found from this link, or on pages 26/27/28 in this week's Farmers Weekly.
Much as I share the farmers' sense of dread when it comes to SPS applications, I also share their relief once it's all over, and I for one can now sit back and relax.
Unfortunately, most farmers still have the task ahead of them. How smug do I feel?!
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this sounds like the way we do it in Queensland as well.