Farmers have until 22 May to apply for GLAS and until 29 May to get their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) application in to the Department of Agriculture.

The number of GLAS applications on the online system has risen to 10,149. However, those applications cannot be processed by the Department until the European Commission signs off of the Rural Development Programme.

Online BPS (the new Single Farm Payment) applications are running ahead of last year, with nearly 10,000 applications already submitted. Farmers are urged to get the application in early to ensure they get the advance payment on 16 October.

IFA Rural Development chair Flor McCarthy has welcomed the extension of the closing date for GLAS.

This will give farmers more time to complete their application.