Bumper payout for some

SOME of the top earning farmers in the country, under the Fischler Mid-Term Reform of the CAP, are looking forward to premia payments on hectares which represent only a fraction of the land area they used during the reference years.

When entitlements are notified to each land owner early in 2004, individuals are expected to qualify for payments of up to 3,500 per hectare per year, over the next 10 years.

Entitlements are based on the premia which they drew down in the 2000, 2001 and 2002 reference years, and will be applied to the average of the land area included in their area aid returns for the same years.