Sports clubs, airports and campsites have received money from the EU that should have gone to farmers, according to the European Court of Auditors (ECA). A report by the ECA published yesterday (29 June) examines the working of the single payment system (SPS), which was introduced as part of the 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. The SPS, under which landowners receive direct aid, was intended as a move away from the traditional farm-support mechanisms of buying up surplus produce and protecting prices through import tariffs. In 2009, 17 member states applied the SPS and paid out €28.8bn. The payments are supposed to be made to active farmers. But the ECA found that payments were made to landowners and organisations not actively engaged in farming. The report says that recreational and sports clubs, railway companies, nature reserves, airports and city councils, hunting and sporting estates as well as government bodies, schools and campsites received payments. The report says that beneficiaries of the payments have little incentive to maintain the condition of their land because the penalties are limited. The ECA says that legislation should be changed to ensure that SPS aid goes to active farmers and that farmers should be required to maintain the quality of their land if they are to receive payments.