Farmers risk losing up to 5% of their single farm payment if they fail to complete their annual Soil Protection Review (SPR) by 31st December this year.

The warning comes from Arable Alliance farm consultant Graham Johnson, who said many farmers may not have even started to compile their review.

“Failure to complete the SPR on time can lead to a 3-5% penalty on your single farm payment,” he said.

“Spending just a few hours to fill it in to have it available upon request is far better than risking a cash penalty.”

The aim of the SPR is to maintain soil structure and organic matter and prevent erosion, compaction and damage to landscape features.

The review, which should be updated annually, must be retained and be available for inspection as part of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) rules.

Copies of your old SPR and the additional annual review sheet for 2009 should be kept and made available for inspection.

Non-completion of the SPR (GAEC 1) is a common reason for failure of cross-compliance inspections, with 50 and 60 farms respectively failing for this reason in 2008 and 2009.

DEFRA published a revised SPR template on 1 January this year, replacing earlier versions. The new template requires more input from farmers than the previous scheme, such as asking farmers to detail potential risks to soils.

Copies were sent to farmers last December, but they are also available on the DEFRA website www.crosscompliance.org.uk. Hard copies are available by calling the Rural Payments Agency helpline on 0845 603 7777 and an Excel version of the SPR is available for use.

The Soil Protection Review is also available electronically through DEFRA’s Whole Farm Approach  for farmers to complete and submit before 31 December 2010