The EU is offering entitlements to this part of the sector for the first time since the SPS was launched in 2005 as part of the reform of the CAP.

The EU is relaxing its policy on who is eligible for SPS by allowing all growers, farmers and landowners with permanent crops to makes claims for entitlements and payments from 2010. In addition
the RPA will also allow the sector to use transferred or acquired entitlements to make subsidy payment claims from 2009, which could provide a boost to the entitlement trading market.

This is an excellent new opportunity for those farmers and growers with permanent crops that haven’t so far been eligible for entitlements, apart from low intensity orchards which were initially eligible in 2005 and cannot claim again now. However it will be important for growers in this sector to decide whether it is worth pursuing a claim. Although the starting entitlement will have a value of around 230 euros per hectare, this will be reduced by 30% for modulation, which could see the final payment being around £50-£60 per acre.

Growers will also obviously have to adhere to Statutory Management Regulations (SMR) and Good Environmental and Agricultural Conditions (GAEC), facing the possibility of inspection, as well as disclosing operational information, which may deter some smaller businesses. If you are a grower with a substantial land area then it will be well worth pursuing the payment, but if you grow intensively on a small amount of land it may be less appealing.

The RPA is also allowing the sector to make subsidy payment claims from 2009 if they have acquired entitlements to use against land with no current claim. This could provide a small boost to the entitlement trading market, though not as substantial a boost as would have been generated by allowing the sector to make claims against the land without providing additional entitlements. It is also questionable how many new claimants will choose to acquire traded entitlement for 2009 when they will receive it free in 2010.

Those farmers and growers who are interested in claiming the new entitlement have until 31st December this year to contact the RPA (0845 6037777) and register their interest. At this point they need to provide relatively simple information and if they have other farming activity and already are in contact with the RPA, they will need their Single Business Identifier (SBI) number, their holding number and their vendor number.

However once the process progresses they will need to supply maps with boundary information of the land that they are claiming against and ensure that the land is on the RPA Rural Land Register (RLR), which as farmers already dealing with the RPA can testify can be more complex to sort out. Any good rural consultancy will be able to help with the form filling and mapping processes so it needn’t be a difficult or time consuming exercise as long as the subsidy claim is financially worthwhile for the claimant.

This could offer many growers a worthwhile subsidy payment, though it is a shame that it has taken the EU nearly 5 years to offer support to this part of the industry. There are pros and cons to claiming depending on the value of the claim and the nature of the business so it is well worth taking some initial advice if the subsidy looks appealing.

The following crops now meet SPS eligibility requirements (not all of these are grown in the UK):

• apples, pears, apricots, peaches (including nectarines), cherries, plums, sloes and quinces
• citrus fruit, plantains, figs, pineapples, avocados, guavas, mangoes, mangosteens, papayas and locust beans
• mint, melissa and rosemary
• nuts – almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, chestnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, other nuts (not areca or cola nuts)
• vines
• nursery crops

For more information contact Gareth Lay on 01452 880190 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it