The window for trading of Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) entitlements opens from next Monday (4 April) and for a transfer to take effect for 2016, an application must be with DARD by 3 May.

Making the announcement last week, Minister for Agriculture Michelle O’Neill reminded farmers that entitlements can be transferred by gift, sale, lease or through actual or anticipated inheritance. They can also be transferred as the result of a business merger or scission.

As well as a transfer using a paper form (Form TE1 Transfer Application), a new online service is also available which means that the transfer is completed instantly.

However, before any transaction can be made, farmers will require their unique entitlement transfer ID – it should come on an entitlement statement due out by the end of this week, which shows the final number and value of entitlements established in 2015.

Entitlements can only be transferred to businesses that have cattle (for at least three months) or sheep (since January), or can provide evidence of existing agricultural activity. In other words, only active farmers can claim payments – if someone who successfully established entitlements in 2015 decides to stop farming and lease their land this year, they cannot claim BPS entitlements against this land in 2016.

They should either lease or sell their entitlement, as entitlements not claimed for two consecutive years will be lost.

Additional land

For a farmer who has taken additional land this year, they must add this on to their Single Application Form (SAF), even if they now have more land than they need to claim all their 2015 entitlements. In this scenario, it would be worthwhile to investigate the possibility of leasing or buying in additional entitlements to cover this extra land. This process must be complete before submitting the 2016 SAF. Assuming that leased entitlements trade at around half their value, then it would be a worthwhile investment.

A Guide to the Transfer of BPS Entitlements booklet, plus a series of relevant questions and answers, should be available on the DARD website in the coming days.