THE main farming organisations were this week united in their call for a three-tier single farm payment scheme.

On Tuesday the National Beef Association and Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers both agreed to support the proposal.

They, with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, had previously campaigned for a two-tier zone, based on the moorland line, but they have now written to Margaret Beckett, Defra Secretary of State, to support the three-tier scheme proposed by the Country Land and Business Association, National Farmers' Union, Tenant Farmers' Association, National Sheep Association and the National Trust.

That proposal creates three English regions: lowland non-SDA; upland SDA to the moorland line, and the moorland above that line. It also calls for a guaranteed minimum payment, before deductions, to make the full rural area payment no less than £150/ha in the upland SDA region and £30/ha in the moorland region.

Announcing their decision, Robert Forster, NBA chief executive, said Mrs Beckett would have considered the moorland line option but felt it did not have sufficient industry backing. She wanted a stronger consensus on the three-region approach before committing her- self to changing her decision.

The NBA remained convinced the moorland line option would have given livestock farmers in the non-moorland part of the SDA a much fairer deal than they would now get.

"However, if the SDA line remains the boundary between England's two SFP regions, they will continue to face a baseline of just £75/ha, which is the worst of all possible options," said Mr Forster. "The NBA wants to make sure they can benefit from the least damaging choice still available, but we make no apologies for taking our fight on behalf of fringe SDA beef farmers to the wire.".

Tim Brigstocke, chairman of the RABDF, defended their original decision to go for two regions, based on the moorland line, to protect the SDAs 1,500 dairy producers from quitting. But he recognised the three region option was preferable to Defra's SDA line proposal.

"On the basis that consensus is needed, RABDF is prepared to sign up to the three-region case," he said.

He was pleased they had highlighted the potential plight of the SDAs' dairy farmers to Government. "We will continue to work with industry bodies to ensure that Government is alert to the fact that these producers will still face severe financial challenges and that additional support payments should be considered," he said.

* Andrew George, Liberal Democrat rural affairs spokeman, accused Defra of making decisions on single farm payments before it had even begun economic assessments of their impact. His comment followed a parliamentary reply from Defra Minister Alun Michael, in which he admitted the economic analysis on single farm payments was "still on-going"