Pressure is mounting to increase the number of places to be made available under the second tranche of GLAS – currently there are 10,000 places – that was due to open next Monday, 12 October. It now looks like the opening of the scheme will be delayed until the end of next week as the Department continues to test the online system.

It has confirmed that on the basis of the plans submitted for the 27,000 applications, the targets for a range of measures have been met or exceeded.

They include: Low Input Permanent Pasture (LIPP), protection of watercourses, laying hedgerows, planting new hedgerows, planting of traditional orchards, bird, bee and bat habitats, wild bird cover and stone wall maintenance.

Exceeding targets is the main reason the Department has reduced the area under LIPP from 10ha to 5ha, with the intention to persuade more farmers to take the hay meadow option. This is well behind target and delivers the same payment per hectare. It looks likely that the Department will not reverse this decision, despite pressure from farmers and consultants. The Department also suspended the new hedgerows and traditional orchards measures due to the targets being met with concerns about the availability of planting stock. It said this position will be reviewed for tranche three.