"My last
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance was pounds 12,000," he said.
It points to the experience of the many farmers who lost out when the former
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance was replaced by the area-based Tir Mynydd scheme.
Dr Cunningham said in a Commons written reply that EU Agriculture Commissioner Mr Franz Fischler had rejected his proposal for a one-year increase in the
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance.
From 2004 Welsh hill producers will not get help to ease the transition from the headage-based
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance, Rural Development Minister Mike German said.
The subsidy redistribution experience of the conversion of the old headage
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances (HLCA) to a hectarage basis and Defra's own calculations about possible support redistribution under an area payment approach to the SFP have led to a number of concerns about the possible impact on livestock producers.
His visit follows concerns expressed by the commission that proposals for revised
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances - now called the Hill Farming Allowance - still focused too much on the livestock numbers rather than the area.
Had Tir Mynydd gone, his farm -365-acre Cynfal, Bryncrug - stood to lose up to 20% of its overall budget' this on top of cuts suffered when Tir Mynydd replaced
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances in 2001.
Rural Development Minister Michael German has said the National Assembly doesn't plan to make any changes to the scheme, which replaced the
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances which are special payments for upland and hill farmers in what are termed ``Less Favoured Areas'' - a definition which covers 80pc of Wales.
The biggest slice of the pounds 150 million farm aid package over the next three years will come from maintaining last year's pounds 60 million increase in the
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances (HLCA) for a further year.
Tir Mynydd, which replaced
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances in 2001, provides additional payments to 11,000 families who farm difficult terrain in Wales.
Welsh hill farmers last week expressed fears that delays would mean they would lose out on payments under the Tir Mynydd scheme, formerly known as
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances.
Payments of
hill livestock compensatory allowances will soon be on their way to farmers in the less favoured areas, Agriculture Secretary Mr Nick Brown has said.