The Country Landowners Association has issued the following important advice to farmers in The Yorkshire Dales which we are happy to pass on; -

please do ensure that you have notified the RPA that you have been affected by the flooding as they will need this information to ensure you are not penalised for non-compliance of any greening or stewardship obligations.   The RPA request that this notification is submitted within 15 days of the incident.

The information from the BPS handbook is on page 109 (copied below) link here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/705756/BPS_2018_scheme_rules_v5.0.pdf

Force majeure and exceptional circumstances If force majeure or exceptional circumstances mean that a farmer can’t follow the scheme rules, RPA may not apply a penalty or reduction, and may also accept an application after the 11 June 2018 deadline. In these cases (which are looked at individually), the farmer must provide evidence to show that it was an unusual circumstance outside the farmer’s control and that the consequences – in spite of all due care – couldn’t be avoided.

Payments, reductions and penalties Basic Payment Scheme 2018 – farmers must email or write to RPA within 15 working days of being able to do so. They’ll need to give evidence to show: • what has happened • how the event meant they couldn’t meet the scheme rules • if the force majeure request concerns a late or missed application they also need to submit that application at the same time or as soon as possible after making the force majeure request.