Welsh producers told to double check SFP forms
Single farm payment forms only started arriving on the doorsteps of farmers in Wales this week.
But there are already some glaring mistakes, says Philip Meade, managing director of Oswestry-based Davis Meade. “A lot of the maps are missing fields. It is vital that you check all your registered fields are on the map, and that the acreages are correct.”
So where is confusion likely? Question 4 in Section 1 is badly worded, says Mr Meade. “Essentially it means that farmers who have recently become partners in another farming business should tick the box.”
Section 2 relates to the historic payment and should be pre-populated. “Check it for accuracy and cross the box to establish the payment. If you don”t, the SFP will go into the national reserve.”
Section 5 relates to anyone holding less land now than during the reference period. Farmers may want to consolidate, or stack, their entitlements on fewer acres, but need to consider this carefully, says Mr Meade.
“If you request consolidation, the entitlements will be replaced with the same number of national reserve entitlements, which must be used and can’t be traded for five years.”
Consolidation cannot be claimed if the land was given up voluntarily before the end of a tenancy, as happened with many cross-border farmers, he adds.
Land transfers are covered in Section 6 – with the buyer or lessee filling in part A and sellers or lessors filling in part B on their respective forms. “You need to make sure that you both fill in the same information so that it tallies.”
To claim the SFP, farmers must be in control of the land for at least 10 months starting between Oct 1, 2004, and Apr 30, 2005, says Mr Meade.
“You can only have one start date even if you have lots of separate grass keeps.” Farmers should ensure all agreements are in writing, and enter the start date in Section 8.
Farmers should use Sections 9 and 10 to claim for protein and energy crop payments and apply for the environmental schemes Tir Mynydd and Tir Cynnal. Farmers with certain common agreements or farm assurance schemes (Enhancements G and E) can boost their Tir Mynydd payments by up to 20%, so should tick these boxes if they comply.