The Fodder Support Scheme is set to pay eligible farmers accepted into the scheme a rate of €100/ha, the Irish Farmers Journal can reveal.

Given the average area applied for by beef and sheep farmers, this will leave applicants with an average payment for the silage scheme of €760.

Approximately 537,000ha were applied for and had this figure exceeded 560,000ha, the Irish Farmers Journal understands that payments were to be adjusted downwards to reflect the limited funds available.

A total of 69,403 applications were accepted by the Department of Agriculture on 2 August, the date after which applications were considered late and penalised at the rate of 1% per day.

Some 586 late applications had been received by the Department up to 19 August, which was the latest available figure provided to the Irish Farmers Journal last week.

Fields must be cut by 5 September to be eligible for payment and the Department has said that the area on which payments will be made remains subject to change as a result of ongoing eligibility checks and inspections.