NFU wins break from bureacracy for growers

Growers renting land for next year's fruit, vegetable and potato crops will not have to fill out land transfer forms, thanks to pressure from the NFU.

The RPA has agreed it will relax the rules on filling out RLE1 forms for those transferring land only between farmers - providing they aren't swapping SPS entitlements - following a meeting with the NFU on Thursday.

Chairman of the NFU's board for horticulture Richard Hirst said: "This is good news for those in the process of sorting out land swaps for next year. We are grateful that the RPA has listened to us and agreed to cut out this unnecessary piece of bureaucracy.

"The RPA has also agreed to investigate reports from some applicants who had problems getting hold of RLE1 forms."

The NFU's SPS adviser Richard Wordsworth says pressure is now being brought to ensure that the findings of the RPA's review of Fruit, Vegetable and Potatoes (FVP) applications are released at the earliest opportunity.

Mr Wordsworth said: "The RPA has told us that this review will be complete by the end of the month. This is one of the final fundamental building blocks of the SPS, with huge implications for growers looking to plan production, re-arrange entitlements, and land transfers. The RPA is now in no doubt about the urgency of putting growers in the picture about their entitlements at the earliest opportunity."