Agricultural consultants have called on the Department of Agriculture to remove all GLAS blocks preventing farmers making their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) applications.

The Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) has formally written to the Department requesting that all GLAS blocks be lifted on Sunday 30 April in order for consultants to submit BPS applications for clients.

The Department confirmed that about 1,000 GLAS III applications are “currently held for further examination”, in addition to a “limited number of additional cases for which parcel information is under review before the 2017 BPS application can be finalised”.

Those farmers receive a notice online saying: “Please note your GLAS information is currently being updated. This process will be completed shortly and you will be able to access your 2017 application at that stage.”

However, this week consultants are reporting further problems with BPS applications involving GLAS farmers.

In some cases, when a change is made to a farmer’s GLAS information on the BPS system but not submitted, the next time the BPS application is opened, the system says that the previous draft is corrupt or blocked and the planner is told to delete everything and start again.

Time running out

ACA president Laura Johnston told the Irish Farmers Journal: “We want any work on GLAS files to cease from 30 April. There are only three weeks left for BPS and there is no way the GLAS issues are going to be fixed in three weeks.”

Three crop rule

Agricultural consultant Pat Minnock also warned about a problem for tillage farmers who applied for GLAS and do not know yet if they qualify for equivalence on the three-crop rule.

Some 54,999 applications for the BPS have been received by the Department, of which 49,039 were made online and 5,960 on paper.

Up to 70 farmers per day attended Department of Agriculture BPS clinics in Tralee, Tuam, Ennis, Ballina and Letterkenny ahead of the 15 May BPS deadline and the move to 100% online applications in 2018.

Most farmers requiring help at the online clinics are farmers in their 60s or above. Department staff in Letterkenny said that the main concerns aired by farmers regarded broadband issues or access to a computer from next year onwards.

“Farmers at the clinics are happy to be shown the process and many pick it up relatively quickly, especially if they have had computer experience before, with the likes of animal movements,” Department official Claire Bryan said.

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