NATIONAL and regional envelope schemes will strip too much off the Single Farm Payment, the National Beef Association has warned.

The schemes are aimed at encouraging good farm practice and rural enterprise marketing, and at preventing land abandonment after CAP reform is adopted.

The NBA says the capacity of the beef sector to manage land according to sound environmental principles will be better achieved if the money is left in the hands of the farmer - especially as funding for envelope projects will have to be raised by beef farmers themselves.

"They already face significant reductions in their SFP through a 3pc deduction to prime the national reserve for hardship cases, while at least another 7.5pc would be needed to secure EU and UK match funding for modulated schemes," said NBA chief executive, Robert Forster.

"We already know that modulation in England, which could be used to pump up hill farming allowance payments and finance other support plans, could require up to 10.5 per cent of the SFP.

"This would leave the English farmer with just 86.5pc of his original entitlement allocation and gives a very good indication of what could happen elsewhere.

"Although there is an excellent chance that most modulated money taken from the beef sector will find its way back to the beef farmer, this is less likely to be case with envelope projects, which will have a narrower base and introduce a big range of net losers.

"In these circumstances, our very firm view is that beef farmers will need to keep as much of their entitlement as they can to develop their post-CAP businesses according to cross-compliance rules and it would be counterproductive to take more from them."

According to the NBA, projects funded through national envelopes could be re-examined when there had been time to assess the general reaction to the reformed CAP management system and when the areas where help was needed were more easily identified.

"But it would not be wise for governments to rush in and set up a raft of new projects until they have a better idea of where they will be needed," said Mr Forster. "It is important for many reasons, including landscape and habitat protection through grazing, that the beef sector remains stable in the crucial post-CAP reform period.

"We believe cattle numbers in important environmental areas are more likely to be sustained if individual farmers are able to take advantage of the new management flexibilities offered to them by decoupling subsidy payments.

"However it will be impossible for those whose activities are crucial to good environmental practice to protect their businesses, and protect cattle numbers, if they do not have enough direct income."