1500 fine for failure to reap EU surplus

25 May 1999

£1500 fine for failure to reap EU surplus

A FARMER who earned a £15,000 subsidy from the European Union (EU) for growing a crop no one wanted has been fined for not harvesting it.

Richard Goldsworthy has been paid for several years by the EU to produce 100 tons of linseed fibre flax, which he was then ordered to destroy.

Last year, Goldsworthy, of Kilgetty, west Wales, decided to save the £1300 cost of harvesting the flax by ploughing it back in. He was charged with obtaining the subsidy by deception when inspectors found the crop had not been harvested.

Goldsworthy admitted the offence at Swansea Crown Court.

• The Daily Telegraph 25/05/99 page 11