Farm charity secures millions of pounds for upper Teesdale

AN upper dale agricultural charity has helped farmers collect more than £4million through the Basic Payment System (BPS).
Some 229 farm business received help with their BPS claims from staff at Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (Utass).
In a report to the charity’s annual meeting, project manager Diane Spark said there are still problems with the BPS system.
She said: “Unfortunately, some businesses are still chasing underpayment from 2015, particularly those with common land and those who transferred entitlements into their business.
“2016 proved to be another difficult year for Basic Payment Scheme applications. The RPA (Rural Payment Agency) was keen to see as many applications made using the online system, though the option of papers forms was still available.”
She added that pre-populated information on the online system was often wrong or incomplete.
Farmers found that some of their land was not included, while other fields not part of their business had been.
This meant many farmers had to complete additional forms to highlight the inaccuracies, Ms Spark said.
She added: “This was particularly true true of claims involving common or shared grazing.”
However, the project manager said the overall 2016 application period was less traumatic than it had been the previous year.
Along with BPS, the charity had a number of successes in other areas, including arranging training for farmers in such fields as wool shearing, safe us of pesticides, online training, tractor driving and quad bike riding.
Emergency first aid and chainsaw maintenance courses were offered as well.
Ms Spark said: “A new two year programme – Weardale Rural Skills Training – funded by Weasrdale Action Partnership and delivered by Utass, sarted in February providing part funding for a range of farming skills.”
The charity hosted an open evening at Middleton Mart in September, which the project manager said had included a variety of training, safety awareness and other sessions.
In his report, Utass chairman Dr Jonathan Nainby-Luxmoore said a highlight of the year was a visit by King Letsie IIO of Lesotho.
He added: “New services delivered this year included a dog chipping session held in September at Middleton Mart in partnership with Castle Vets resulting in 30 dogs being chipped.
“Social lunch sessions were held monthly throughout the year and were always well attended in Middleton, Barnard Castle and St John's Chapel.”