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The average basic payment scheme (BPS) claimant in NI received £13,366 in 2020 - 2021, up from just under £12,000 in the previous year, the latest UK CAP beneficiaries list published by DEFRA shows.
The data refer to payments made from the period 16 October 2020 – 15 October 2021, so for the vast majority of NI claimants it is effectively their 2020 payment.
Excluding those with payments under £200, analysis of the information shows that there were 23,901 claimants in NI, down slightly on the 24,000 from the previous year.
Payments were higher in 2020 – 2021 mainly as the result of a 4.3% increase in entitlement values that year after DAERA reallocated money away from unused entitlements.
It was also the first year that BPS money came directly from the UK Treasury, which brought an end to a process known as Financial Discipline, where a small percentage was traditionally shaved off each year to create an EU “crisis reserve”.
This money was then reimbursed the following year if the reserve was untouched, so the overall impact was generally neutral. In 2020, there was no financial discipline applied to UK farm payments, and farmers were reimbursed for money taken off in 2019.
Over £200,000
In NI, four farm businesses received over £200,000 in direct payments in 2020 – 2021. Remaining top of the list is CAFRE, with payments of £240,059, thanks to a large estate that includes a 2,500 acre hill farm at Glenwherry in Co. Antrim.
Moving up to second is Kilkeel farmer Oisin Murnion, who received £233,099, followed by Dundonald based Blakiston Houston Estate, with a payment of £220,876. Fourth on the NI list is C&C Phillips from Magherafelt with a payment of £204,539.
In total, 20 farm businesses in NI received over £150,000, 103 had payments over £100,000 and 713 received over £50,000.
Britain
With much smaller farm sizes in NI, it means that the average NI payment of £13,366 is well behind that from Britain. NI is also the only UK region to have an upper limit on payments and in 2020-2021 BPS (excluding greening) was capped at €150,000
Scotland remains top for rates per farm, with 17,590 farm businesses receiving an average of £32,849. The top BPS claimant in Scotland was the RSPB, with total direct payments of £1.56m. In addition to BPS money, over 10,000 Scottish farmers also share £65m in less favoured area payments.
In England, there are 83,968 claimants with the average per farm business working out at £26,751. A total of 14 farm businesses received over £1m in direct payments. The National Trust remains top of the list with a payment of £3.2m, followed by Dyson Farming Ltd. at £3.1m.
Across the UK, 141,710 farm businesses received £3.59bn in direct payments in 2020-2021. On the overall list, the top recipient in NI (CAFRE) is 476th.
Murnion hits out at young farmer process
Some farm businesses are continually near the top of the list of BPS recipients in NI, but others can appear high up for one year only.
That is the situation with Co Down farmer Oisin Murnion, who farms with his daughter Jolene outside Kilkeel.
In 2019-2020, the business received direct payments of £57,759 and this shot up to £233,099 in 2020-2021.
The reason for the big increase was an ongoing appeal relating to an application by Jolene Murnion to the young farmers’ scheme in 2015, which was finally resolved in 2020, with back payments made.
However, the drawn out process has left the Murnions’ very bitter.
Nightmare
“It was nothing other than a nightmare. We have ended up with legal fees over £40,000 and interest to be paid on loans over the period. It nearly wrecked our business. In the end, the Department paid 2% interest on the money owed, yet I was having to borrow money at 7%,” the former chairman of the National Beef Association said.
He believes that it was only when Minister Poots took over in DAERA, that the issue was resolved. He also acknowledges the technical support he received from the UFU.
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