Financial predictions appreciated

[GentleOtter]

We are trying to fill in our Single Farm Payment form and must decide whether the payments should be made in Euros or the GB pound.
The government payment decision is taken from how the pound and euro stand on the 30th September 2009.
It is impossible to hazard a guess but which one would you choose?
Any replies are much appreciated.

Anyone?
Or how would you find some way of seeing how pound/Euro vie against each other over a year?
Sorry this is so dull but it would make a huge odds on the SFP.

GentleOtter - can you simply elect a 50% in each? I remember my Dad struggling with this problem several years ago before he sold his farm.

My own view of the Euro/Sterling rate is that you should elect for Sterling as European economies are extremely vulnerable to a break up of the Eurozone. The riots in Greece and Spain over unemployment are just the tip of a very big iceberg.

That said predicting currency movements over short time scales are really very difficult and if you can elect 50:50 that may be safest.

This web site?

I would have thought that due to the current UK economy I would guess that the Euro will stay pretty strong against the pound this year. I'm not an expert though.....We got a bargain on our summer holiday as I booked that in pounds. The Euro equivilent prices were lot higher....

I seem to have xposted with your later post, which I do not quite understand.

Many thanks to both of you for replying.
We have to choose between or the other EvenBetaDad but are torn as to which one.
Dh wants to stick with sterling but last year I ticked the Euro box choice and we were far better off with our payment.
My choice would be the Euro due to the banks, no confidence in the government etc.....we have to fill this wretchedly complicated form in before the Friday deadline and I'm in a faff.
I'm off into SEERAD tomorrow to see if they can help just with the codes- it is so incomprehensible PLUS you can only access it online if you have Internet Explorer which we don't have.

is it lots and lots of money? i know utterly nothing about this but have heard and noticed that euro goes up against pound during holiday seasons, easter etc.

so at end sept it would probably have just gone down again after (potential) august increase.

GentleOtter - my heart goes out to you. It is an utterly vile process. I recall my Dad nearly having his entire form thrown out (in England) because of tiny tiny differences between the mapping data in the Govt system and the actual surveyed acreage of his farm.

I assume you are going to hand deliver the form and get a receipt just in case they lose it. That happened too to my Dad.

Don't let it get you down. Good luck.

Last year was chaos as all the farmers handed in their forms on the last day - there were cattle floats and tractors parked outside the 'Ministry" and folk sat at tables in their wellies made to refill their forms.
My helpful advice was, and I quote verbatim, "The subsidy you require comes under the SRDP and not the SFP but their may be entitlement under the LFA"......
Your Dad will be familiar with all this EvenBetaDad.

fishie- it is a lot of money to us as it pays for every single thing for running our farm, keep us, feed the livestock, pay off machinery, fencing material, seed etc.
The bigger and better the farm, the more money. We are away down the list as it is a 250 acre hill farm and we don't get the megabucks that the big boys get.
I'm going to ask some of the farmers tomorrow at the Ministry whether Euro or Sterling but they can be a notoriously secretive lot...