AS SCOTTISH farmers get to grips with new CAP rules and reportedly struggle with the new computer system amidst fears that payments will be late, farmers across Europe are facing similar challenges.

With Scotland recently announcing that its SAF deadline would shift back a month, The Scottish Farmer sought to find out if the situation is similar in other member states.

Looking at Austria, Italy and The Netherlands, it is clear similar struggles are being faced, with farmers trying to work out what the new rules mean for them and wonder when they will receive their subsidy.

So far 15 member states have opted to take Farm Commissioner Hogan's offer of a deadline extension to June 15 - France, Croatia, Spain, Austria, Poland, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Malta, Italy, Ireland, Czech Republic, the Walloon part of Belgium and of course the UK.

For those in the Netherlands, owing to the new complexity of the CAP and issues following the Russian import ban, payments will be delayed, but it is still unclear if payments will be delayed in Austria and Italy.

The computer issues faced by Scottish farmers do not seem to be specific to this country either, and the complexity brought by the new rules appear to be confusing farmers wherever they reside.

Roman Goldberger, editor of Austrian agricultural newspaper Landwirt, explained the situation: "The computer system in Austria has changed and farmers have told me it was very chaotic at the beginning. It is getting better now, but there are still problems.

"Many farmers are finding difficulty in filling in their application forms. Most of them take the offer from the chamber of agriculture of help. Even for very experienced and knowledgeable farmers, it is proving almost impossible for them to fill in the form by themselves.

"So farmers are very annoyed because it was said the CAP reform had the aim of making things less complicated - the result is anything but."

In Italy, farmers have also faced initial difficulty in filling out their forms. Agricultural journalist Matteo Bernardelli explained that these problems are beginning to be ironed out: "My region, Lombardia, adopted a new system for the managing of First and Second Pillar of the CAP. We had many problems at the beginning, but now we have solved the criticality. In future we can do it better for the new CAP related questions."

As for the complexity, this is causing problems for farmers trying to fill in their forms, he added: "We moved from historic title payment to area-based support. We will have only one area in Italy, from the Alps to Sicily. We will apply also the Irish model, with internal convergence.

"The difficulties for Italian farmers are linked to Greening's application and to the environmental measures of the Second Pillar. Generally, in the North of Italy and especially in Lombardia, the abandonment of the historical criterion penalizes animal husbandry."

In The Netherlands, the country will be changing to a new system of direct payments, based on hectares. Similar to Scotland, farmers will face a slow transition to the new system by 2019.

Agri journalist Ruben van Boekel explained that farmers are finding the new rules difficult: "There is lot of discussion about the 'green rules' in the CAP. The most difficulties are with the EFA. Farmers are having problems with the meaning of the rules."

Mr van Boekel is unaware of complaints surrounding the computer system in the country, but added that the government had enlisted extra staff to deal with customer services so farmers are able to get help on evenings and weekends.