MID WALES FARMERS CONCERNED ABOUT TIR GOFAL AND ORGANIC FARMING SCHEMES

MEMBERS of the Montgomeryshire branch of the Farmers' Union of Wales in the Tir Gofal agri-environment and Organic Farming schemes today met local AM Mick Bates to discuss their difficulties since changes were made to the administrative requirements of the schemes.

"The process of matching the different maps drawn up for each scheme with the Single Payment map is generating a lot of queries from Rural Payments Wales over very small areas of land and in a number of cases the same queries were being raised this year as last year," said the union's county executive officer Susan Jones.

"These queries are delaying validation of the Single Payment application forms which have also resulted in delays of Tir Gofal and Organic Farming Scheme payments.

"For some farmers this is resulting in cash flow issues when these payments are outstanding for more than six months.

"In previous years payments were received on the anniversary of the Agreement but since the EU required full validation of the SAF form to be complete before payment can be released, payment is unpredictable."

Tir Gofal was a ten-year agreement with a break at five years to review the programme of works. A number of farmers are waiting over 12 months to have the second half of their commitment to Tir Gofal signed.

The Organic Farming Scheme was intended to assist farmers through the period of organic conversion and the early years of organic production. The payment was to help them through this period when income is reduced.

Again due to mapping issues and validation being required before payments can be made this was affecting cash flow.

After the meeting, Montgomeryshire FUW County Chairman Arwel Rees said: "In today's financial climate these payments should be made as soon as possible.

"Farms are the same as any small business - borrowing money is costly in today's climate so you can understand farmer's frustrations when cash flows are affected by delayed payments from the Welsh Assembly.

"Many of the queries raised over mapping issues were including land not owned by the farmer. A typical mapping query would be over small areas of 0.01hecares of difference in habitat area declared.

"Members expressed their disappointment and lack of confidence with the schemes."