Farmers have expressed their anger and dismay over the Rural Payments Agency’s (RPA) “mapping fiasco” during a National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Council meeting this week.
Calls for action were laid at the feet of RPA chief operations officer Steve Pearce, with NFU members speaking of their frustrations at the “manmade bureaucratic incompetence” that has seen members left without any maps, inaccurate mapping, incomplete paperwork or tied in knots trying to get through the labyrinth RPA call centre.
The RPA admitted that 33,000 farmers and growers still had some missing data on their application sheets but reassured the NFU Council that the RPA would contact each person individually to fill in the gaps or add data where it could.
During the meeting, NFU president Peter Kendall asked for a show of hands to demonstrate the enormity of the problem, caused by the RPA remapping all farms across England, ahead of the SPS 2010 applications, and called the dozens of people with issues in the room “a barometer for the industry and the problems that are out there”.
Kendall said: “What we need to know now is how the RPA plans to mitigate against the scores of problems that members have raised with the NFU. This is a real worry to our members and assurances now are critical.
“I am absolutely amazed that despite warning the RPA of the problems we anticipated with mapping way back in the summer last year, we are where we are today. Our members have worked hard to meet the RPA deadlines and return accurate forms and correct mistakes but thousands of farmers and growers could still face delayed payments in 2010 or incorrect payments through no fault of their own. In the current economic climate, where farmers depend on a reliable income to deal with overdrafts and loans, this lack of service is totally unacceptable.
“I want assurances from the RPA that farmers won’t be penalised for mistakes that are not of their doing, that payments will be issued in full and on time, and that they have a contingency plan in place to avoid the car crash that is heading our way.
“I hope the RPA goes away from the NFU Council today and puts as much right as it possibly can.”
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