The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is an executive agency of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The RPA was created on 16 October 2001 from the amalgamation of the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce and the Defra Paying Agency as a single paying agency for most Common Agricultural Policy schemes in England and certain schemes throughout the whole of the UK. Most notably the agency is responsible for administering and distributing the Single Payment Scheme to farmers in England. It also enforces the European Union's regulations on the size and shape of vegetables and fruit sold in shops, by warning and advising businesses, and occasionally prosecuting under section 14 of the Agriculture and Horticulture Act 1964.
The RPA delivers payments to farmers and traders in excess of £2 billion per year. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, RPA operates on behalf of the devolved administrations through agency agreements.
Part of the role of the agency is to issue holding numbers and vendor numbers to landowners in England who wish to take advantage of the various schemes DEFRA offers.
In 2003 the British Cattle Movement Service was amalgamated into the RPA, it manages the Cattle Tracing System (CTS) for the whole of Great Britain, it maintains a register of births, deaths and imports of cattle to be used for animal health and subsidy control purposes; issues cattle passports; records where individual cattle are as well as operating a dedicated helpline and provide online facilities for delivering its services.
The Rural Land Registry is also a part of the RPA, and this division sends land maps to landowners in the United Kingdom.
Famous quotes containing the words rural and/or agency:
“Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds,
Exhilarate the spirit, and restore
The tone of languid Nature.”
—William Cowper (1731–1800)
“It is possible that the telephone has been responsible for more business inefficiency than any other agency except laudanum.... In the old days when you wanted to get in touch with a man you wrote a note, sprinkled it with sand, and gave it to a man on horseback. It probably was delivered within half an hour, depending on how big a lunch the horse had had. But in these busy days of rush-rush-rush, it is sometimes a week before you can catch your man on the telephone.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)