Battle on to meet SFP deadline

PRESSURE IS mounting on farmers who have still to return their single farm payment applications.

The deadline for forms to be returned without penalties is May 16.

Welsh farming unions have mobilised all available staff to help members struggling to complete SFP applications before the deadline.

The move followed a warning that by Wed (May 11) only 8620 of 20,000 forms had been returned and that a significant number had “common errors”.

Union leaders urged the Welsh Assembly not to penalise farmers who made genuine errors, such as failing to tick a box, on the unfamiliar forms.

In a letter, Gareth Vaughan, FUW president, told rural affairs minister Carwyn Jones that farmers grappling with a radically changed support structure needed such a reassurance.

Mr Vaughan admitted that union staff and Welsh Assembly civil servants faced a huge task, even though Assembly agriculture department offices would stay open over the weekend for the anticipated late rush for advice, and to receive forms.

He warned members who complained that forms were sent out too close to the EU-set deadline that it was very unlikely to be extended, and it was imperative that they dropped everything to get them back on time.

“The single farm payment is crucial to farmers’ livelihoods, and failure to establish entitlement in Section 2 of the form will result in these entitlements being lost to the National Reserve,” he said.

A Welsh Assembly spokeswoman said: “It is quite usual to have the majority of CAP forms returned to the Assembly in the last few days. Last year in the middle of the week before the deadline only 10,000 IACS forms, or about 50% of the total, had been received.”

She urged farmers to complete their forms as soon as possible, but added that divisional offices would open 9.00am–1.00pm on Sat and Sun.