NFU president Tim Bennett has expressed his frustration at Defra's handling of the Entry Level Scheme.

"At this moment, I am not sure whether to shed tears of rage, frustration or sorrow," he said at the opening of Cereals 2005.

Describing ELS as the flagship of the Curry Report and Defra's Sustainable Strategy, he said he would have expected Defra to take care to get its delivery right but, having just lived through the Single Payment Scheme, he felt he should not have been surprised by the current problems.

He referred in particular to "the ludicrous situation where apparently many farmers still can't apply for the Entry Level Scheme because the RDS cannot supply correct maps".

Mr Bennett said: "We have already persuaded the Government to push back the deadlines, but farmers are still left with the prospect of autumn cultivations not knowing whether they will be able to join the scheme at the earliest start date."

If the situation did not change after the RDS introduced its new software, the NFU would immediately insist the Government announced a Plan B.

The NFU's own Plan B would be for:

* monthly start dates, so all those who are ready can enter as soon as possible;

* a payment guarantee that all those entering by November 1 can be paid by February 1, 2006;

* applications accepted without RDS-approved maps, with submissions allowed with SPS electronic maps;

* local surgeries which allow electronic submission of applications during late June and July.

"I hardly need to point out that modulation will fund the ELS," said Mr Bennett. "If Defra cannot deliver an effective application process in the months ahead, there will not be the same need for funding in the first year and, in that case, modulation rates must be adjusted.

"Failure on the scale we are seeing would be regarded as a clear breach of contract in any other environment."

Mr Bennett earlier said the whole future of British farming was tied up with how well farmers could explain themselves to, and be appreciated by, the public.

"The time has gone when farmers were automatically respected because they were producing the vital staples of life," he said.

"What the public wants now is the countryside and the environment, and the big disconnection is between the people's appreciation of the countryside and their understanding of the farmer's role in managing it."

That was why it was important Defra sorted out the mess surrounding the introduction of the ELS as soon as possible.