UK dairy producers are being advised to treat their Single Farm Payment completely separately from their dairy farming income by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers.

photo courtesy of www.jennifermackenzie.co.uk

“All dairy farmers must not be misled and regard their SFP as a cash bonanza, when they receive their cheques,” says RABDF chairman, Tim Brigstocke. “And they most certainly should not include the payment into their dairy enterprise costings otherwise this will give a totally false picture of the economics of milk production.

“The SFP is a new payment made to dairy producers which overall, reflects the movement of the former European support mechanism towards delivering environmental benefits. The SFP is not intended to offset lower milk prices, nor should it be recouped further up the supply chain,” he explains.

“The SFP is a short term measure, which for the majority of dairy farmers based in England will be severely eroded over the next eight years, while the trend will be more profound in the Severely Disadvantaged Areas where the payments were initially set at a lower rate.”

He adds: “We urge all dairy farmers to put their payment in a separate account. It can be used towards a farm diversification project, a completely new business venture off farm, or simply for reinvestment purposes.”

· RABDF has demanded that Defra announces at the earliest when it intends to complete the SFP payout. “Farmers in England need a firm date when they will receive their full SFP in order to make business plans and stem dwindling industry confidence,” says Mr Brigstocke.

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