The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in NI is to continue developing online communication methods across a range of services.

During a presentation to MLAs at Stormont last week, Pauline Rooney from DAERA confirmed that the use of online communication will be the default method used by officials when dealing with farmers.

To date, the most notable example of online communication has been when farmers complete their Single Application Form for subsidy payments, with 62% completed online in 2016, up from 42% in 2015.

That 2016 figure covers 70% of the eligible land area in NI, which is relevant, as new EU targets require DAERA to have online applications covering 75% of the land area in 2017 and 100% of the land area in 2018.

“There will be challenges to meet,” acknowledged Rooney, who also pointed out that the recent cut to DAERA staff numbers as a result of budget pressures means there is no longer the people available to manually process claim forms.

That means the focus will remain on getting more Single Application Forms completed online in 2017.

According to officials, the barriers to online communication are not as prevalent as they once were. A recent survey conducted by DAERA indicated that around 80% of farm businesses now have access to landline broadband with good operating speeds above 2Mbps (megabits per second). Satellite broadband is also available across NI, although it is more expensive than the landline option.

Farmers who still don’t have access to broadband should be able to make an appointment to go into a local DAERA office or library to complete their 2017 SAF under the guidance of trained staff.

For those who still want to complete a 2017 SAF using a paper version, that will also be possible, said Rooney. Clearly, however, it is not the preferred method.

APHIS

The other area where farmers have grasped the use on online technology is when registering newborn calves. At present, around 63% of births are registered using APHIS online, although only small numbers of animal movements are registered using the system. However, Paul McGurnaghan from DAERA said the veterinary service is currently looking at how the system could be changed. “Our target is to have 80% of movements recorded online by 2020,” he told MLAs.