Pressure bears fruit, says NFU

The announcement made today by Defra, that now allows farmers to apply for the Entry Level Scheme at monthly intervals, is a vindication of the NFU's consistent position.

NFU President Tim Bennett said, "It's good to see Defra and the RDS listening to the common sense approach advocated by the NFU.

Monthly application intervals for ELS were a major plank of the Plan B I highlighted when I opened Cereals 2005 earlier this week."

Farmers have shown their willingness to sign up to ELS, with over 20,000 pre-populated application packs having already been requested.

The decision to go to monthly application windows will allow those who are ready to apply for the scheme to do so with the minimum of delay.

Mr Bennett added, "I would still like to see, however, a payment guarantee so that any farmer that applies for the ELS before 1 November will receive payment at the earliest opportunity - 1 February 2006.

I will continue to keep the pressure on Defra to implement the remaining aspects of my Plan B."