Update single farm payment

By Peter Young

Late April will be a busy time around the country as the last farmers rush to get their 2006 Single Payment Scheme form in on time. The exact date is yet to be announced but farmers can expect to get their Single Payment Scheme forms in mid March, giving them plenty of time. Farmers will be more familiar with the forms this year leading to less problems. The Department is looking at the form at present and some changes are being contemplated to make it easier to complete.

SPS goes live

Farmers that are registered on the Department e-services will be able to see all their SFP details on the web from mid March. Everything from the provisional certificate, final certificate and also how the Department computed all the details will be on view. They also intend to make the current application available and use the website for interactive services that will help farmers fill out their form.

Eight thousand farmers have more entitlements to claim

Over 8,000 farmers failed to apply for entitlements last year. They will be written to next week but will lose them unless they reply promptly to the letter. It is believed that the majority of cases are where the herd number has changed hands but an inheritance form has not been filled in to transfer the entitlements. Don't miss the opportunity.

National Reserve update

Still no decision from the Minister on what average is to be used to determine the payments to farmers from the National Reserve. It could be mix of DED or county depending on the category. The only solace is that the time frame for allocations to be made from late-February/early March is still on target with payments being made fairly promptly afterwards.

4,300 farmers left for 2005 SFP

There was 697 cases cleared in the last five working days or 140 per working day. The Department also sent out supplementary payments to 206 farmers bringing the total payments in the week to €8.2 million.

This leaves 4,300 farmers left to be paid. Up to 1,000 of these are application that have been received into he last few months. The remaining are proving to be very difficult cases with a lot of issues involved.