DEAR EDITOR

As I wait patiently for the full details of the tillage compensation package to be finalised and money to be paid to the very needy tillage farmers, I’m hearing murmurs that not all tillage crops will be included, namely fodder beet and maize.

The thinking behind this, I believe is that maize is mainly grown by dairy farmers, who have had successive good years lately.

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I personally, as a beef and tillage farmer, must point out that yes, my maize yielded well but was grown for sale and remains unsold and pitted in my yard.

My fodder beet at present remains unharvested in a waterlogged field. The blinkered view shown by many to exclude these crops from any aid package is manifestly unfair. It’s well known that oilseed rape, which yielded well and prices were good compared to wheat barley or oats, seems to be going to escape the fate of maize or beet. Should whole crop wheat or barley be excluded also? Is there even a harvest record to do this?

Is all funding going to be blanket spread across all combinable acres to help out huge operators that rent parishes of land or is the aid package going to be front-loaded like the current BPS or previous BEAM payments that went to the first 100 cattle killed per herd owner?