SPS: Kendall puts farmers case to Minister

Peter Kendall met Agriculture Minister Jane Kennedy yesterday to push for speedy delivery of 2008 SPS payments.

Along with other stakeholders, the NFU President stressed the embarrassing gap between England’s performance and that of Wales, Scotland and other European countries.

RPA Chief Executive Tony Cooper, also at the meeting, re-iterated the RPA was on target to pay out at least 75% of the pot by the end of January.

Other issues raised were progress on HFA payments and the continued adequate resourcing of the RPA so that system changes needed as a result of the CAP Health Check can be implemented smoothly.

Mr Kendall stressed the need for lessons from the last reform to be learned. Defra’s Health Check policy decisions must, he said, take into account the practicalities of implementation; no-one could afford a repeat of 2005/2006 SPS fiasco.