South West farmers are calling on the Government to pay farmers the money they are owed for work that has been done on environmental schemes.

Hundreds of farms across the region are part of ‘stewardship’ agreements, which pay farmers for delivering additional work like caring for hedgerows, planting wildflower margins in fields, managing flood risk and providing nesting plots for birds including skylarks, lapwings and stone curlews.

Following an application process, agreements generally commence in January, with agreed payments being made in two parts in November, and then the following June – after the extra work has been carried out.

But in the second half of 2017, says the NFU, an attempt to update the maps used to record which hedges and boundaries are included in the scheme backfired, causing scores of errors.

At the same time Defra announced changes to the scheme for 2018.

Now, says the NFU, the 2018 application process is in delay and confusion and enormous delays have been caused in payments to farmers who had signed up in 2017.

The NFU is calling for:

Full payment to be made now, rather than (as was originally proposed) a 75% payment in November, followed by 25% in June.

Extending the May 15 claim deadline for those waiting for 2018 agreement offers.

2018 applicants to have more time to submit soil samples, currently expected by May 15.

Guidance to agreement holders/applicants on dealing with the impact of remapping.