SW farmers at risk of losing millions

Mary
Authored by Mary
Posted: Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - 17:26

Today (February 4th) is the 100 day countdown for farmers across the region to apply for £175 million of EU subsidies – but the new high tech way of applying and more detailed information needed could lead many to miss the deadline and fail to qualify.

The warning comes from countryside experts at Luscombe Maye which helps farmers across the region in their bids for the EU Basic Payments Scheme.

The company – which has been a land agency in the South-West since 1873 -   is already working with 120 farmers to make sense of the new application system but fears  others could leave it too late because they don’t realise how complicated the process has become. And for the first time farmers cannot apply in one go as they have in the past with just a simple single form to fill in.

Changes for 2015 include a need for farmers to change or add additional crops to qualify for help in line with Government policy. They also have to apply online using new Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs-backed software…some of which is not yet available with only 100 days to go before deadline.

Luscombe Maye’s Jon Bell said: “With 100 days to go there is a worry that farmers may not realise the extent of how things have changed this year and how long it will take.

"The online system to apply is more fragmented and asks a lot more questions to enable people to qualify including getting them to map their land differently.

"Making us more nervous is that the new system is not even fully available yet which means it will be a lot more bitty and time consuming as requests for information come online.

“The additional red tape is on top of a need for some farmers to change not only what they farm but how their farms are laid out in a bid to qualify in the first place. It can be very very stressful as May 15th approaches.”

Subsidies mean that farmers can get £200 a hectare in top up support from the EU. With Devon boasting over 600,000 hectares and Cornwall just over 285,000 it means county’s farmers can bid for a slice of £175million. The EU is the biggest spender in terms of agricultural support.

Said Jon: “We would urge farmers across the counties to make time and seek help to ensure they don’t miss out. Even from our perspective of helping them apply it is taking more than twice as long as usual – and we don’t have the additional pressures of ensuring changes have been made to farming practices to ensure eligibility in the first place.”

Devon farmer Rodney MacBean, who farms 300 acres at Coombe Farm in Plympton with his brother Peter said new processes were taking farmers away from what they want to do…farm.

He said: “When I left school I didn’t leave school to fill in claim forms. I wanted to produce food. But to keep our business going we have to fall in line with Government policy and jump through so many more hoops than we have in the past.

"We have no choice because the subsidy is so important to us so I’d say to farmers across the region to seek help if they’re unsure about being ready for the deadline because applying for that help this year is a lot more complicated.”

Rodney, 71, whose farm is a mixture of beef cattle and arable cropping, has already had to make adjustments to his way of working to qualify for grants – including making his land more environmentally friendly with preservation of trees and margins around fields to benefit wildlife.

He added: “Farmers want to concentrate on stockmanship, animal husbandry and crop husbandry not filling in forms.”

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