Panorama – what do farmers think?

An episode of Panorama which highlighted a loophole which allows subsidy to be claimed by people who do not do any farming has sparked fierce debate amongst the farming community.

The programme, screened on BBC 1 on Monday night (5 March), focused on the problem of ‘slipper farmers’ in Scotland.

One of the interviewees, Paul Millan – a property developer in Edinburgh said his normal business is renovating high-value properties in the capital.

He told the programme he bought a subsidy entitlement in 2006 and has so far been paid £250,000 public money.

He said: “I own a farming subsidy which I bought in 2006 and on an annual basis claim that farming subsidy, so although it seems a little odd, officially I’m legally a farmer as well. I’m clearly not rural in any way and don’t even own a pair of wellies.”

The programme also asked questions about whether wealthy individuals such as the Queen and Duke of Westminster should be eligible to claim single farm payments.

As it was screened, the episode caused a storm of reaction on social networking site twitter, but opinions were mixed on its impact.

There was relief that the programme seemed supportive of ordinary working farmers and included an interview with a new entrant in Wales who was struggling because he could not afford to buy entitlements.

Organic farmer @willowford said: “Not an in depth look at CAP but highlighted some real problems and didn’t have a go at working farmers, as some are saying.”

Another called @Farmerkit added: “BBC Panorama doesn’t show bad farming – it shows the result of bad legislation. Many genuine farmers need their single farm payment.”

Many farmers also agreed that it was “outrageous” that people could claim payments when they were not really farming the land.

One @gallowayfarms said: “Can’t deny the systems floored [sic], ludicrous that non-farmers can claim SFP.”

But others feared that the report could still be damaging to the industry.

“Fair enough to highlight abuse, but not enough emphasis on the need of payments by real farmers,” said @Cat_OConnor

Another called @littlehoundales added: “Was it meant to make the public feel like we are all getting money we don’t deserve? It felt like it!”

What did you think of the show? Will this be damaging to farming or is Panorama right to air such issues? Share your thoughts on the forum on the Panorama programme on farm subsidies

The image below shows the keywords that were being used on Twitter in reaction to the Panorama episode. Click on the words to see the actual tweets.