Agriculture Minister Michelle McIlveen has confirmed that 80% of eligible farm businesses are in line to get a 70% payment advance on their 2016 subsidies, starting on Monday 17 October.

Just how many claimants that relates to remains unclear. Presumably an “eligible” claimant is someone who has not been subject to a cross compliance or land eligibility inspection, or has had these checks completed and verified by the payment date.

The minister also confirmed that full payments are to be made to 95% of eligible applicants by the end of December 2016.

In terms of the 2016 young farmers’ payment, it will be paid at a rate of €60.53/ha up to a limit of 90ha per business, which is down significantly from the payment of €81.28/ha announced for the 2015 scheme year.

With the scheme funded by taking a flat 2% off all payments in 2015, as more young farmers have come on board this year, the payment rate has been scaled back.

The regional reserve, used to make payment entitlements to young farmers and new entrants is funded slightly differently.

There is no cap to how much money is taken off all payments to fund the scheme, and in 2015 the reduction applied was 3.3%.

With more applications coming on stream in 2016, an additional 0.4% is being removed from all payments.

Meanwhile, the exchange rate used to convert subsidy payments from euro to sterling this year will be €1 = £0.85228p, which is up 16.5% when compared with the 2015 rate of €1 = £0.73129p. It means that an extra £39m will be coming to NI agriculture through direct subsidy payments in 2016. Welcoming the cash boost, UFU president Barclay Bell highlighted that it will help ease some of the cashflow pressures on farms.

He also said that the UFU has received assurances from banks that they will not grab CAP funds going into accounts to pay down debts more quickly.

“While we recognise that debt is a problem for everyone, we would urge other suppliers to the industry to remain patient. Farmers have a track record as people who want to pay off debts. They will do so again,” he maintained.