Farmers are reminded of deadlines

WITH less than a week left to complete 2017 Single Application Forms (SAF), NFU Scotland is encouraging crofters and farmers to prioritise filling out their forms before the May 15 deadline.

And for those looking to meet the greening requirements, the union is reminding them to include the maps of their Ecological Focus Areas (EFA) with the application or risk significant disallowances.

NFU Scotland’s Peter Loggie said: ‘We can’t stress enough to those applying for greening the importance of including a map of your EFA with the application. That map is considered a supporting document which must also be submitted by the May 15 deadline.

‘If the EFA map is missing, the result can be a total loss of the whole greening element.

‘In addition, from this year, a penalty on top of that can be applied, even if all EFA rules have been complied with fully on the ground.

‘We urge all applicants to take this seriously. NFUS is aware of one member who may yet lose out on a significant part of their 2016 support claim because of their failure to supply EFA maps appropriately last year.’