Cross compliance too complicated for farmers

"There is a general feeling across Europe that the cross compliance regime introduced at the same time as the single farm payment has become far too complicated for both farmers and administrators alike to cope with," said Mary James, NFU Cymru Head of Policy, to members at a recent Ceredigion NFU meeting held in Ciliau Aeron.

Mrs James has recently returned from Brussels where farming unions across Europe were informed that under the German Presidency of the EU next year, negotiations would begin as to how a simpler regime could be adopted to suit all.

In advance of these negotiations, NFU Cymru has submitted a paper to the EU Commission and the Welsh Assembly Government which highlights a number of issues which urgently need addressing including:-

· An end to unannounced inspections, farmers should be given at least a weeks notice of an inspection.

· Farmers should not have to wait months after an inspection before being notified of whether penalties will be applied to their single farm payment.

· Penalties should be proportional to the breach that has occurred and greater use should be made of a warning letter for first offences. There should be a general 'tolerance' level allowed for minor breaches.

Mrs James continued, "We are not suggesting, or for one minute believe, that cross compliance should not be a part of the single farm payment scheme but the original Commission proposals included a commitment to 'the lightest form of regulation', from the experience of our members to date this is certainly not the case in Wales."

Gerwyn Owen, NFU Cymru Ceredigion County Chairman, reminded farmers of the important role NFU Cymru plays in lobbying through the Assembly, Westminster and the full time NFU presence in Brussels, to reduce regulation; but warned farmers to be aware of common problems currently resulting in penalties from cross compliance inspections.

Mr Owen commented on a recent meeting he had attended with the Farm Liaison team of the National Assembly. He said, "The most common problems encountered on farm relate to lost tags in both sheep and cattle, the failure to return passports for cattle that have died on farm and the selling of cattle without a TB pre movement test."

He urged members to be aware of these common problems and to ensure that they respond immediately to any outstanding queries, however trivial, that they had received from their Divisional Office to prevent delays to the payment of their single farm payment.