Farmers scramble in countdown to entitlement cut-off

UK - Farmers are being reminded that just three banking days remain before the entitlement trading window closes for this year’s single farm payment.

A flurry of transfers have been seem across England so far this week, but brokers say they are concerned there may still be farmers wanting to trade.

George Paton of broker Webb Paton said: “We desperately need an extension of the 2 April deadline, which is being discussed today in Brussels.

“Every day the volume has been building and since Monday we’ve had about 250 enquiries. I’ve still been taking calls at quarter to ten in the evening and working till midnight.”

Mr Paton said he was optimistic about the chances of an extension, but the NFU is pushing even further for a delay to the 15 May deadline for single payment applications.

Entitlements yielding between £190 and £300 this year were the easiest to sell, Mr Paton said, while the higher value ones were proving difficult to place.

Low-value area-only entitlements were also selling well at a multiple of some 2.5 times this year’s pay-out.

Source: FWi