CAP Reform - Single Farm Payment - April 2004

With the introduction of the new Single Farm Payment on 1st January 2005, to enable you to understand the impact it will have on your farming business it is important that you have some idea of how much Single Farm Payment you are likely to receive in the future years.

Should you wish us to prepare the calculations for you, based on the current information available from DEFRA, please let us know as soon as possible. Note, even if you do not currently claim subsidies you may still be entitled to payment under the new scheme. Therefore, it is important to let us have details of your eligible land to enable us to confirm you entitlement.

IMPORTANT DETAILS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE CAP REFORM AFFECTING THOSE WHO LET OUT ALL OR PART OF THEIR LAND:

If you are grass letting and you wish to join the Single Farm Payment Scheme starting 1st January 2005, you will have to register your land in early 2005. Also, you will need to complete a form similar to an I.A.C.S application in 2005 (to be submitted by 15th May 2005). The amount of payment you will receive depends upon the amount of land and the Defra status of that land.

Please note:

You do not have to join the scheme in 2005. You need to decide whether or not the scheme is of benefit to you. This will depend upon how much SFP you are entitled to, how much income you derive from grass letting and whether you are able to negotiate the amount of your rentals. However, if you do not join the scheme in 2005, you will not be able to join in the future.

There is a 10-month occupation rule which specifies that whoever applies for the Single Farm Payment in 2005 must be in occupation of the land during a period of 10 months. The start date of this period is at the discretion of the claimant. It can be from any time between 1st October in the year preceding the claim, to 30th April of the year of the claim. If no date is selected by the claimant, then the default date of 1st February will be allocated to them.

Note only one person can claim the Single Farm Payment for any area of land and if you wish to claim against a particular area you must include the land on your 2005 IACS Single Payment application. In the event that the land appears on more than one IACS application, the payment will go to the person who satisfies the 10-month rule.

Those farmers who are not automatically completing an I.A.C.S application in 2004 may be advised to request one and declare their land in 2004. Even though this is not essential it will be good practice for the 2005 S.F.P application and will help to resolve in advance any problems which may be encountered when completing this form.

It is important that you keep a copy of any future land registration or I.A.C.S/S.F.P application forms to ensure we can check that you are receiving maximum entitlement under the new Single Farm Payment System. Please bring these forms in to our office for photocopying if necessary.

More CAP Reform information:

Outline of the scheme rules

Frequently asked questions

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