I APOLOGISE in advance as you are going to be very bored of my weekly updates on the new computer system for the Basic Payment Scheme, which is creeping through its phased introduction.

Last week at the NFU council meeting, Mark Grimshaw, who is the chief executive of the RPA, announced a significant ramping up of the numbers invited to register online.

He proposed that the NFU start to ask 3,000 members per day to register on the new service, which is a pretty daunting but necessary target if they are to get ready for the claims period in the spring.

He was promising extended opening hours, including weekends for the RPA helpline.

This may be optimistic as we are finding the registration process is gradually getting slower as more callers come online.

Indeed, my partner Davina Fillingham had her last registration appointment at 4.45pm only to find that the RPA helpline had shut 10 minutes before the official closing time.

For those who haven’t yet tried to phone, you will get through to the helpline to be told that you will have a wait of two to five minutes and our experience has been that the middle of the day is most crowded, with better response either early or late.

You will next get a member of the RPA staff who are generally very helpful but the process of registration can take 15 to 20 minutes.

At the end of it all you get your customer registration number, which will eventually enable you to check your holding and claim details.

As agents, we are focusing on the registration process and will have put through more than 100 clients in the past week or so.

I can’t over emphasise the urgency of getting registered as soon as you can, and if you need help come and see someone.

I got a lovely letter from an 86-year-old client which merely said that as he was not on the internet, could we act for him.

It is sad in some ways but there will be many in the same position, needing assistance to get into the new BPS Scheme.

For those interested I did see that the RPA is holding a series of webinars and the next one is on February 10. If you want the access details, please get in touch.

 

Winning the pudding race

IF only the rest of industry could perform like the whisky distillers and haggis producers.

Scotch whisky exports have risen 24 per cent in the last four years and 1.3 billion bottles leave our shores worth £4.37bn.

Equally impressive is the rise of that iconic Scottish favourite the haggis, which was described by Robbie Burns as “the great Chieftan o’the pudding race”.

Haggis exports have risen by more than 50 per cent, going to 28 different countries, and the Scottish firm MacSween sells more than a million haggis over the Burns period. Last Sunday night was Burns Night, when the world tucked into its haggis, but if you missed the opportunity I understand it is just as good out of season.

 

US to buy Irish beef

I STARTED writing this column almost 20 years ago, just before the dramatic announcement in Parliament about BSE.

In the senseless vacuum that followed, scaremongers like Dr Richard Lacey predicted 100,000 deaths within 10 years and old allies like the US abandoned, or rather banned, our beef from their shores.

Unbelievably this has never been lifted, until last week when a deal to do so was discussed with Ireland.

If Irish beef is directed away from the British market towards America then this could tighten supplies and lift prices at home. I was talking to one British beef farmer who buys stores in Ireland and he has now found that his former suppliers are holding onto their cattle in the hopes of better returns from the US.

 

McIntosh backs dairy farmers

WHAT really annoys me is the way in which the supermarkets, who are the biggest buyers of our farm produce, use us as a football in the price war game.

Thankfully, in this ongoing dairy crisis we have a firm supporter in Anne McIntosh, who is chairman of the EFRA Select Committee.

Last week, she pronounced yet again that the Groceries Code Adjudicator did not have enough power.

The GCA can only investigate complaints involving direct suppliers to the big 10 supermarkets. andBy its very nature milk production is mostly small scale and therefore dairy farmers are excluded.

Ms McIntosh wants the ombudsman’s remit extended to include indirect suppliers and give GCA the power to fine those retailers breaching the code.

As the current crisis grows David Cameron has now acknowledged that the GCA should be given more power and it is a comfort to know that our MP has been setting the pace.

Why on earth are we losing her?