The latest indications are that it will be February 2017 at the earliest before a new £100m Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) in NI opens for farmers.

The new scheme is funded as part of the NI Rural Development Programme for 2014 to 2020. When it was first announced in September 2014, the launch date was given as mid-2015, with new agreements starting on 1 January 2016.

However, as a result of £30m cuts to the then DARD budget, which came to light towards the end of 2014, the Department decided to put the new agri-environment scheme on hold for a year. It had been widely expected that the scheme would open this autumn, with agreements starting on 1 January 2017.

That is not now happening, with the main focus within DAERA on getting grant schemes opened this autumn as part of the Farm Business Improvement Scheme.

“A number of schemes, including the Environmental Farming Scheme, are being developed in parallel by DAERA. The aim is to implement these in line with business priorities as soon as possible,” confirmed a DAERA spokesperson.

That is not much comfort to farmers who have seen their existing agri-environment agreements come to an end. In many cases, final payments are now being made. In 2012, around 12,000 farmers participated in agri-environment schemes, covering 420,000ha or over 40% of the land area in NI. It is understood that just around 1,000 participants will now be left in agri-environment schemes, all of whom are members of NI Countryside Management Scheme, which is due to end in 2019.