[Moco]

Hello

I'm not sure whether this is the right place, but I am looking for information on the Single Farm Payment scheme.

If there is anyone who knows anything about it, or where I can find information, I would be very grateful.

We have a smallholding and it's growing!

Many thanks

Moco

[Rosemary]

Hi and welcome. I can't help but I'm sure  others here can.

[Moco]

Thank you, Rosemary.

I'll keep checking....

[little blue]

defra website has a link to the rural payments agency (but I couldn't understand much of it!) if thats any help
Welcome to TAS
You don't have to be mad... etc 

[Moco]

Oh dear, Little Blue.  I've been there and that's why I came here!!  Too many words and not necessarily in an order I can understand.

But thanks for the suggestion.

Yup.  I am finding that running a smallholding is easier if you are slightly eccentrid....or maybe it's the running of the smallholding that causes the eccentricity??

[little blue]

Which came first.. the smallholding or the madness??
Clucking quackers!

[Roxy]

I think this was what I looked into and decided not to bother.  Too many rules and regulations.  You can only ahve so many animals per acre, you cannot feed animals in the field, not allow them to poach or churn up the ground etc. etc......  It would cost us more to adhere to all these things, than its worth.  So I did not persue it.

[cameldairy]

Wow, that's terrible. I don't understand this at all. If it's your own land, how can they (is it your Government?) tell you how to use it?

[hexhammeasure]

thats another reason why we are moving to texas....

[Hilarysmum]

No single farm payment here in France, only the big farmers get the subsidies, which is why they can sell pork at 2 euros a kilo on promotion.  Sorry rant over.

[Hilarysmum]

Oooops forgot, sorry  Welcome.

[Pentre1230]

Unless you have a large acerage don't bother its more hassle than its worth!! We have several farms and its a nightmare, they will cease in the not to distant future so farmers wil have to get used to not farming on the brown envelope!! 

[Hilarysmum]

Does this mean no subsidies at all for UK farmers?  If so thats putting the UK Farmer at a huge disadvantage unless it stops EU wide as well.

[Hilarysmum]

Pentre when in Uk I always tried to by British.  However the majority of products labelled British were in fact from animals/fruit/veg/cereals from outside EU let alone UK.  The labelling system is a joke.  Free range just means the sows may have been, British can mean it was packed in UK.  Some of the pork and bacon products are even from Phillipines.  Before the consumer can buy british the consumer needs to demand clear labelling with exactly where each part of the product comes from.  Then maybe UK Farmers may survive.  (Sorry its one of my soapbox items).

[xnbacon]

Down our way we have a farm that has been sold off in various sized plots.  Obviously different people have bought the plots for different purposes.  However the people that have bought a plot with the avowed intention of farming it (and have been doing so) are having a heck of a job getting planning permission for a barn, whereas the people buying fields for horses seem to have no problems getting permission for stables.  It seems most peculiar, some of the guff the planning department have come out with has been quite contradictory, as if they really do not want people actually using agricultural land for farming.  And yet one of their policies states they wish to reserve the countryside for activities that can only be done in the country.  I've yet to hear of an urban council that would welcome a selection of sheep, pigs and chickens in someone's back garden!!