It is believed that the Department of Agriculture has extended the deadline for GLAS applications.

Applications were due on on Friday at midnight. However, the Department's online system crashed for three hours on Thursday, which is believed to be the reason why the deadline will be set for next week instead.

The system had been struggling with the high volume of applications during the past week, with planners working night shifts to get submissions in on time.

The extra time could see the number of farmers entering the scheme exceed 20,000.