Applicants participating in the Multi-Species Sward or Red Clover Silage measures are advised that payment claims can be uploaded online via the agfood.ie portal. The deadline for submitting a claim has been extended due to a delay in opening the claims portal, and is now Friday, 29 September 2023.

To access the portal, applicants should select ‘ag schemes’ followed by ‘applications for payment’ and then select the relevant measure from the scheme drop down menu. For applicants to be deemed eligible, they must have declared the appropriate crop code for the respective parcel on their 2023 Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) application.

Important factors

Only seed purchased after an applicant’s expression of interest for the relevant measure was submitted via agfood.ie and sown before the final date for sowing of 15 July 2023, can be considered eligible.

Payment under this measure will be up to €300/ha and is limited to a minimum area of 1ha and a maximum area of 20ha.

In making a claim, an applicant must upload at least one of the official seed labels from the packs of purchased seed, showing the composition of the red clover silage/multi-species sward mixture.

The terms and conditions state that only one claim can be made per applicant for each measure. In this claim, a maximum of two invoices and two seed labels can be uploaded.

Furthermore, all invoices, receipts and statements should be original, on headed paper and at least include the name, address, phone number and VAT number/Tax Reference Number (TRN) of the Agri-retailer/Co-op.

In addition, the receipt must indicate:

  • The name and address of the approved applicant.
  • The invoice number and date.
  • The quantity and weight of the bags of seed purchased.
  • All invoices must be marked paid.