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Advance CAP payments have been made to 21,111 farm businesses in Northern Ireland, Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Michelle McIlveen has said.
This equates to 90.72% of farmers who are currently deemed eligible for payments, exceeding the Department’s original aim of paying 80% of eligible farmers advance payments.
The next target for DAERA is to have 95% of eligible farmers paid full CAP payments by the end of December.
The total number of applications to the Basic Payment Scheme in 2016 was 25,102, meaning that around 84% of applicants have received advance payments. A DAERA spokesperson said that 1,943 applicants have been deemed ineligible so far, although this is liable to change with both the review process and further applicants being deemed ineligible following checks.
The minister said that “many young farmers and a significant number of businesses subject to inspection” have be paid advance subsidy payments.
Pressures
“Given the acute cashflow pressures the industry faces, these payments will be anxiously awaited by farming families across Northern Ireland, and this announcement from the minister is very welcome,” Ulster Farmers’ Union president Barclay Bell said.
Both Bell and Minister McIlveen acknowledged that the increase in farmers applying online has facilitated DAERA in making early payments.
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