The NFU’s South West regional board wrote to Environment Secretary Liz Truss and Farming Minister George Eustice in February expressing their frustration at the way the RPA had ‘utterly failed’ and asking them to look into ‘the inadequacies of the RPA’s system… as a matter of urgency’ but so far there has been no reply.
Many farmers are still waiting for their payment, with those in the uplands areas of Dartmoor, Exmoor and Bodmin Moor being particularly badly affected, and the whole process has been mired in error and confusion.
The board will also be sending a resolution to next week’s meeting of the NFU Council criticising the ‘false promises’ of payment made to farmers in uplands areas by the RPA and calling on Defra and the RPA to spell out how they intend to remedy the situation.
“The market is currently very difficult, farming incomes are down and the problems with BPS have put incredible pressure on cash flows, not only for farmers, but all the allied trades and the wider supply chain which relies on the farming industry,” said regional board chairman James Small.
“If solutions are not urgently sought, all the confusion is likely to result in further errors and delayed payments for 2016 as well, so to have had no response to the board’s letters to ministers is hugely disappointing, and insulting, to the hundreds of farmers affected across Cornwall, Devon , Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire who we represent.
“To have had no response from ministers is hugely disappointing and insulting”
“The reason support payments exist is to counteract the volatility of the global marketplace which has created direct and indirect costs for farming families, so they are absolutely crucial.”
The board’s deputy chairman Andrew Cozens, who farms in Gloucestershire, said that whilst local Rural Payments Agency (RPA) staff were doing their best to help, and that was appreciated, more resources were required for them to be able to deal adequately with the situation.
“Banks also need to know when payments are coming if they are to continue to offer vital financial support. If we are not careful the entire industry and wider supply chain will be impacted for years, which will hamper our efforts to ensure a consistent supply of local food.”
NFU uplands spokesman Robin Milton said: “Our uplands members have been particularly badly affected; in many cases they do not even have any indication of when they might be paid which is completely unacceptable. The RPA and Defra must clearly set out how they are going to remedy these issues and start to give farmers some hope now.”