The first of the 2025 scheme payments, €183.2m, due to 86,985 farmers under the Areas of Natural Constraint scheme, has commenced.

The payments, which were announced on Tuesday by Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, are in line with 2024 levels and are running at a higher level than previous years.

The minister said “payments commencing today is a significant milestone achieved and is in line with dates agreed with the Farmers’ Charter. The ANC scheme is crucial to farm families, and I know the importance of getting payments out to applicants as quickly as possible. The issuing of these payments in mid-September highlights our commitment to make payments to farmers at the earliest possible time.”

The minister added that payments will land in farmers’ bank accounts in the coming days and committed that his Department will continue to process “as a matter of urgency all remaining cases for payment as they meet scheme criteria”.

Outstanding payments

Payments under the ANC scheme were made to over 99,000 farmers in 2024. The main delay for outstanding payments is farmers not satisfying the minimum stocking rate required of 0.10LU per eligible forage hectare or the 28-week consecutive retention period of at least 0.10LU per eligible forage hectare.

Regular pay runs will continue in the coming weeks and the Department is encouraging farmers to submit any outstanding evidence in support of their application to the Department’s Portlaoise pffice as soon as possible to facilitate the early release of payments.

The direct payments helpdesk can be contacted at 057-8674422 and farmers can also submit queries via MyAgFood.ie. Staff from the ANC section will also be available at the National Ploughing Championships to answer queries.

Upcoming payments

Minister Heydon also confirmed that his Department is on track to facilitate payment of the 70% advance under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS), and Complementary Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS) from 16 October 2025, and payments under the Eco-scheme measure from 23 October 2025.