The NFU's North-East region has been at the forefront of calls for the new Single Farm Payment (SFP) to be implemented in the fairest possible way. That's the message from regional director Richard Ellison, as the region completes six weeks of strenuous lobbying. The Government announced the introduction of the SFP on February 12 and regional livestock commodity board chairman and Northumberland farmer Malcolm Corbett has challenged Secretary of State Margaret Beckett to rethink the plans which could prove damaging to many livestock producers. What has followed has been a series of meetings with NFU national office holders, six roadshow meetings that attracted more than 1,000 farmers across the region and a 24-hour consultation with members on possible ways forward. "At the heart of the problem was the inequity of proposals that would have seen the more intensive upland livestock farmers unfairly penalised," said Mr Ellison. "All along, the NFU has welcomed the move to break the link between payments and production because this will give farmers the freedom to produce only what there is a market for. "We also wanted the new Single Farm Payment to be based on the payments historically made to farmers. "This remains our preferred option because it's the only solution that guarantees the minimum redistribution of farm support." He said Mrs Beckett has indicated that she might be prepared to reconsider her decision, but only if there is broad industry consensus on the way forward. Under the initial proposals, England is split into two regions - upland areas and the rest of the country. However, because the new payment is based on the size of farms, rather than on what is produced, this penalises lower level livestock farms that tend to be very productive but smaller in size. To redress this problem, the NFU and others are now calling for England to be split into three regions: land above the moorland line, land lower down but still within the SDA and lowland England. | 
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