The scheme will provide payment on a per-litre basis up to a cap of 500,000 litres, and is funded from NI’s £4.1 allocation of the €350m EU Exceptional Adjustment Aid package.
The rate of payment to dairy farmers will not be known until all applications for the scheme have been received and the remaining funds leftover from the aid package are calculated.
Last November, the then Agriculture Minister Michelle McIlveen announced that NI’s EU Exceptional Adjustment Aid allocation would be used on four measures. These were compensation for removal of BVD persistently-infected calves, a pig industry competitiveness scheme, a free soil-sampling service and farm business plan training.
EU aid
The new scheme announced on Friday will be used to spend leftover funds from the £4.1 package before the European Commission’s deadline of 30 September 2017. This follows a low uptake of the BVD compensation scheme and delays in opening the remaining measures.
“It is now clear that those [original] measures will not use up the full NI allocation of EAA funding, and for that reason we have added a further component to the package to help use up any remaining funds here,” a DAERA spokesperson said on Friday.
Applications
The dairy payment scheme is an exact replica of the Small Dairy Farmers Scheme in England. To be eligible for payment, dairy farmers must have had an annual cows’ milk production of up to 1,000,000 litres between 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016, and must still be in milk production.
The scheme also requires an application form to be completed from the Rural Payments Agency website before 31 May 2017.
Other measures
DAERA has pointed out that the BVD compensation scheme is still open and that details of the pig competitiveness scheme are to be announced next week. This scheme will cover the cost of in-feed medication for pig-herds and blanket treatment of sows to control endoparasites.
The free soil-sampling service is still being developed, although some have questioned what uptake this will receive during summer months. The final measure of business training has been changed due to difficulties appointing an external provider within the EU timeframe, and funds are instead being allocated to existing FBIS (Farm Family Key Skills programme).
Read more
PI removal scheme has 104 claims
20% uptake of EU milk scheme
The scheme will provide payment on a per-litre basis up to a cap of 500,000 litres, and is funded from NI’s £4.1 allocation of the €350m EU Exceptional Adjustment Aid package.
The rate of payment to dairy farmers will not be known until all applications for the scheme have been received and the remaining funds leftover from the aid package are calculated.
Last November, the then Agriculture Minister Michelle McIlveen announced that NI’s EU Exceptional Adjustment Aid allocation would be used on four measures. These were compensation for removal of BVD persistently-infected calves, a pig industry competitiveness scheme, a free soil-sampling service and farm business plan training.
EU aid
The new scheme announced on Friday will be used to spend leftover funds from the £4.1 package before the European Commission’s deadline of 30 September 2017. This follows a low uptake of the BVD compensation scheme and delays in opening the remaining measures.
“It is now clear that those [original] measures will not use up the full NI allocation of EAA funding, and for that reason we have added a further component to the package to help use up any remaining funds here,” a DAERA spokesperson said on Friday.
Applications
The dairy payment scheme is an exact replica of the Small Dairy Farmers Scheme in England. To be eligible for payment, dairy farmers must have had an annual cows’ milk production of up to 1,000,000 litres between 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016, and must still be in milk production.
The scheme also requires an application form to be completed from the Rural Payments Agency website before 31 May 2017.
Other measures
DAERA has pointed out that the BVD compensation scheme is still open and that details of the pig competitiveness scheme are to be announced next week. This scheme will cover the cost of in-feed medication for pig-herds and blanket treatment of sows to control endoparasites.
The free soil-sampling service is still being developed, although some have questioned what uptake this will receive during summer months. The final measure of business training has been changed due to difficulties appointing an external provider within the EU timeframe, and funds are instead being allocated to existing FBIS (Farm Family Key Skills programme).
Read more
PI removal scheme has 104 claims
20% uptake of EU milk scheme
SHARING OPTIONS