NORTH Yorkshire farmers were given a clear message on the Single Farm Payment at a seminar at Thirsk Racecourse on Tuesday: get your forms filled in and submit them before the May 16 deadline.

A large gathering heard explanation of how the scheme, the biggest change in agriculture in 30 years, would work.

The Defra roadshow arrived in Thirsk as part of its tour of England and short presentations on the scheme, together with details of the application form and how to apply, were given by representatives from Defra and the Rural Payments Agency.

The day was chaired by Tony Cooke, the Yorkshire farmer who also chairs the group delivering the Government's Sustainable Farming and Food Strategy in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Bill Duncan from the RPA admitted that the new scheme did pose problems. "But we are trying to simplify them," he said. "The significant change is that farmers are going to be supported in the new policy. It will give farmers more choice of how they can farm their land and provide an annual payment based on previous entitlements, but with fewer conditions on what they grow or what stock they have.

"Farmers will be able to do what is best for them. It may be nothing new, but they may decide, say, to increase their stock. As long as they are providing for the market place, they will get support. In essence, the single payment will form part of their income policy."

The form-filling would not be so onerous in future years as the RPA would not need all the information and detail required in the first year.

Tony Cooke said that, in future, farmers would not just produce whatever attracted the biggest grant; the new policy would provide help for what was needed.

"It is a huge mental leap, we appreciate," he said. "There will no longer be direct support for a particular product. What farmers need to do is get their heads around this. There is plenty of advice available. They have to work out where the goal posts are; there is no one solution.

"The new policy will allow farmers to stand on their own feet. There has been a lot of dissatisfaction with the old policy. We needed a support system to allow farmers to react."

When the new policy had been announced two years ago, there had been a lot of concern and many issues had been raised. "But now, farmers understand it more and are pretty much saying: 'Let's find out what we can and get on with it'," said Mr Cooke. "What is implicit is that big changes are required in the industry. In the past it has been more of a dependency culture, with reliance on subsidies. The new move frees farmers to have more control over regulations, be more at the helm and achieve a steady approach.

"There is a transition period up to 2012. The tap is not just being turned off. Farmers need to establish their entitlement and build on to this for the future."