TIME waits for no man and it certainly isn’t going to change to help the Rural Payments Agency with its phased release of the BPS system, writes James Stephenson.

On Thursday, the new mapping functionality was made available and its first few days of life have been greeted with complaints that various elements are just not working correctly.

This part of the system is vital to the success of the whole project because upon it you are required to check all your land holding and to mark the following: permanent ineligible features (PIFS), land use and land cover, and features to be used for the ecological focus areas (EFA).

As agents we are experimenting with the mapping facility and although the RPA is predicting it will get better during the month, it is not an easy exercise.

The biggest handicap is the absence of a print button, which seems unbelievable, but at present you cannot print off any of the maps of your holding and even when complete, we are given to understand you will only then be able to download a print of individual fields, not your holding. This ludicrous forecast means that you could end up with a map for each field on your holding.

The only way of getting an up-to-date hard copy of your farm is to get a new set of RLR maps immediately from the RPA.

We are told that the RPA will continue to issue RLR maps until March, although the final date is yet to be announced; so if you don’t have an up-to-date set of maps, you have no time to waste – contact the RPA forthwith.

Once having got your new maps, why not take plenty of copies just in case.

With regard to the mapping function, I will deal with what is meant to be available to you now in more detail: 1 Permanent Ineligible Features – those PIFS which you have previously shown under the SPS should come up as pre-populated on the new system, but need carefully checking together with the various changes.

Examples of PIFS include: roads and tracks, ponds and watercourses, rocky outcrops, gallops, buildings on hardstanding, farmyards and other hardstandings, fenced off pylons and muck heaps in the same place for three years or more The old SPS Land Use Codes such as OT1 have been consigned to the bin and replaced by a list of crops with yet new codes. Please note winter and spring varieties count as separate crops for diversification purposes.

Once your land use has been identified then the system should automatically update the “land cover” section which is divided into four: Permanent Grassland, Arable, Permanent Crops and Non-Agricultural Use. Also note the new definition of Permanent Grassland means a field that has been sown to grass for more than five years. Therefore any of your former leys that are into their sixth year will be automatically shown as permanent.

3 Features for Ecological Focus Areas – this year, only hedges, buffer strips and areas that are going to be used as EFA’s need to be mapped on the RPA system. Other hedges do not need to be shown. Currently the mapping functionality will not allow you to select these features for EFA’s but this should change in the next month.

I think that is enough to absorb for this week but the task ahead should not be underestimated – on Monday I received from our professional organisation an 8 page guidance note entitled “An Agents Survival Guide” which sums up the challenge.

 

Milk price slides again

THE collapse of the milk price over the last 12 months has been a real tale of disaster leaving in its wake hundreds of farmers who are going to depart the dairy industry.

The pain doesn’t seem to be over and yet another processor called Muller, who purchased Wiseman Dairies, has announced a 1.75p per litre reduction in March.

Currently the major processors’ prices are tabled as follows from March onwards: Muller – 24.15p per litre; Arla Foods – 24.87p per litre; Dairy Crest – 23.09p per litre; First Milk – 21.2p per litre.

With the cost of production running at 25p to 26p per litre we are going to see a lot more exit strategies this spring.

It does seem so unnecessary when the British household would be quite prepared give a few pennies more to have fresh milk in the shops.

Why on earth Asda is advertising brazenly on TV that it is selling four pints for 89p, I will never know.

 

Livestock trade updates

A CHANGE of deadlines means I am reliant on the York trade to give you an idea of what is happening.

Fat cattle have moved marginally better over the past week possibly because there was 700 head fewer marketed.

The overall market average for steers and heifers is running a fraction under 200p per kilo with young bulls at 180p. This latter average includes all the black and whites.

The current week has opened out in similar fashion with bulls perhaps up another penny or two but both sides at the minute are reasonably happy.

The lamb trade has kept remarkably firm this season and lifted to average 192p by the weekend.

Numbers again could feature as there were 7,000 fewer going to slaughter in the last seven days.

There was an excellent show of 1,049 sheep at York with hogs averaging 196p per kilo and up to a top of 242p for the best.

 

TB testing tender

FOR as long as I can remember, it has been common practice to ask your own vet to come and do the TB testing which still seems the most sensible system to adopt; but practicality is not Defra’s strong point and it decided to rationalise the bidding process, offering five regional contracts across the country.

The contracts have been awarded to separate veterinary partnerships but they are all linked to one overarching group.

Not unnaturally there has been a lot of moaning from the rest of the profession and it could lead to a reduction in the number of local vets available for farm work as TB testing will have been useful bread and butter work.

It should be pointed out that the successful bidders are contractually required to offer testing work to veterinary businesses which are preferred by the individual farmer concerned.

Time will tell whether it is successful.