THE PLIGHT of upland farmers was raised at a farm crisis summit called by The Prince of Wales.

Diane Spark, from Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (UTASS), attended the summit at Chatsworth.

She is extremely concerned about potential cash flow problems if the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is late with Basic Payment and Countryside Stewardship payments.

"It was also widely accepted at the summit that a lot of our farmers in the Dales are on Common land or Common grazing which are deemed as complex cases," she said.

"The likelihood is that they could be the last ones processed, but we made it clear that the government's own figures show that year after year upland farmers are the worst off financially so you would think they would be dealt with first."

The summit was told the RPA had taken on hundreds of extra people and that at least 90 per cent of claims had been inputted.

"But that does not help the complex cases," she said, "We are in one of those wait and see situations which is not good for stress and not good at this time of year in the run up to Christmas."

Prince Charles, patron of the Prince's Countryside Fund, called the summit out of his extreme concern about the state of British farming – particularly the plight of smaller farms.

The charity warns that many farm businesses are on the brink of collapse due to prolonged low farm gate prices, administrative burdens, complexity of applications to vital funding streams, and the fear of delayed payments.

The summit was chaired by Lord Curry of Kirkharle, Trustee of The Prince’s Countryside Fund, and attended by Defra Minister George Eustice, farming help charities, the banking industry, and landowner associations.

Lord Curry said the depressed prices across the main agricultural sectors was unprecedented in recent years.

He said: "The volatility in milk prices alone has held the news agenda for months. British lamb and beef prices have been hit by weak export trade and domestic demand. The fact that all commodity prices are so seriously compressed at the same time is almost unparalleled.

"It’s vital that farmers facing adversity feel able to ask for help to access the advice and support that will see them through challenging times and help make their farm businesses resilient to market forces. All too often farmers struggle in isolation.

A growing number of desperate farmers are taking extreme measures to survive, such as seeking higher-rate loans from lenders and adding to their debt.

To prevent that, the Farming Help charities committed to offer workshops and training to frontline and senior bank staff to help banks understand the advice and support available for farmers in need.

Claire Saunders, director of The Prince’s Countryside Fund, said: "By fostering a greater understanding of the challenges facing farming we will go some way to help to solve them.

"Through the work of the Farming Help Partnership, the projects we support and our emergency fund there is valuable and much needed help for farm businesses."

o On Monday (26) Justin Chamberlain, RPA customer director, said they understood how important prompt payments are to hard-pressed farmers.

He said: "We are on track to start making payments from December with the majority before the end of December and the vast majority by the end of January 2016."

An update leaflet is being sent to all 88,000 farmers and agents who submitted a BPS 2015 application. It includes advice on avoiding fraud.