The 70% advance on the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) will commence on Friday 16 October, IFA deputy president Brian Rushe has said.

Rushe received assurances from the Department of Agriculture at a Farmers' Charter of Rights meeting with the Department that payments will begin on Friday week.

“It’s absolutely essential there’s no delay in payments this year.

“All farmers must be paid their advance BPS on Friday week. It’s critical that advance payments on uncompleted inspection cases are made next week, as previously agreed,” he said.

Land Parcel Identification System review

On the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) review, the IFA emphasised there cannot be a repeat of last year’s delays.

Rushe reiterated that with over 129,000 farmers making a BPS application across all the schemes and the severe income problems from the COVID-19 crisis this year, it is absolutely essential that all farmers are paid on all schemes on time in line with the deadlines in the charter.

IFA rural development chair Michael Biggins said the timely payments of the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) advance payments last month was welcome and he also stressed the importance of paying the remaining farmers as soon as they meet their stocking density requirements.

The Department confirmed that it is making ANC payments twice weekly and gave assurances to the IFA that the remaining farmers will be paid their advance payment as soon as they meet the required stocking density.

Biggins also stressed the importance of GLAS payments being on time in November without any hold-up due to ongoing inspections.

The IFA also highlighted that any issues with the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) must be resolved and payments to farmers must be made without delay in December and called for TAMS approvals to be sent to farmers without delay.

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