The announcement of a number of decisions on Single Farm Payment entitlements by Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill at the end of last week is a welcome step in the process of implementing CAP reform in NI.

In her statement, the Minister confirmed that all existing entitlements will be cancelled at the end of 2014, and that it is entitlements ‘held’ not ‘activated’ in 2014 that will form the basis for new payments in 2015. The 2015 payment will be calculated by dividing the total value of entitlements held in 2014 by the land area declared in 2015.

The decisions were widely anticipated. They were originally proposed in the DARD consultation which ended on 17 January 2014, and received near unanimous support from those who responded.

The use of entitlements ‘held’ in 2014 as the basis for 2015 entitlements is important for those farmers who have lost some land this year and have unused entitlements. It also suggests that we are not moving immediately to flat rate payments in 2015 and there will be some form of transition period.

That is the crucial issue yet to be decided. There must be a transition period to allow farmers time to adjust.

However, the arguments over the actual rate of transition have become embroiled with arguments on whether to adopt one, two or even a three-region model. These decisions will have to go to the NI Executive for approval. Hopefully, at that point, there is enough political maturity to agree a compromise that is equally fair (or unfair) to all.

The sooner this happens, the better. The arguments from all sides have been well made, but we are now at a stage where they are being repeated over again. It is time to make final decisions and move on.