Despite the European Commission floating the possibility that the deadline for the 2015 Single Application Form (SAF) could be moved back as far as 15 June 2015, DARD has indicated that it sees no reason to change the current date.

Moving back the deadline is being considered by a number of member states, including the Republic of Ireland, given the problems implementing the new CAP regime across Europe this year. But the line from DARD officials is that they see no reason to change the date given that online SAFs are now available and the paper forms plus guidance will be out before the end of March.

“A delay will impact DARD’s ability to process payments. If you extend the deadline, you just create a problem further down the line in December,” said Mark McLean from DARD when he met MLAs at Stormont earlier this week.

Getting payments out in December will be a major task for DARD given the number of possible applicants to the regional reserve and the young farmers payment.

Entitlements will have to be calculated for each individual applicant and then a scale-back applied to pay for the regional reserve.

Throw into the mix the possibility of some key staff leaving this autumn under the civil service voluntary exit scheme, and extending the May deadline is not an attractive option.

The onus is firmly on farmers to start working on their SAF now and not to leave it to the last minute (see back page).

One area where there remains a significant problem is greening, with the Ulster Farmers’ Union unhappy with some of DARD’s interpretations of the rules. That has meant that the guidance booklet has been delayed.

A suggestion put to the Irish Farmers Journal is that if there is the possibility of extending some of the CAP deadlines, this should be done around the specific requirements of greening (SAF4 and map of Ecological Focus Areas).

Meanwhile, more guidance has been added to the DARD website, including on land eligibility and Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC). Booklets are also available in DARD Direct Offices.

The ANC scheme replaces the Less Favoured Area Compensatory Allowances (LFACA) scheme, although only farmers with eligible Severely Disadvantaged Area (SDA) land are able to apply.

Applications to the ANC scheme must be made on the Single Application Form (SAF) by 15 May 2015. The ANC payment is part of the next Rural Development Programme.

Because this programme has yet to be formally approved by the European Commission, DARD has been careful to point out that changes are still possible to the rules around the ANC.