A one-month extension has been made to the deadline for completed applications to transfer 2014 Single Farm Payment (SFP) entitlements. This means that completed forms must be with the SFP branch in Orchard House by 2 May and not the normal 2 April deadline.

Explaining the reasons for moving the date, DARD officials in front of the Stormont Agriculture Committee said that possible changes to the definition of an active farmer from 2015 has resulted in a significant increase in enquiries about trading entitlements.

Assuming current proposals on the definition of an active farmer are ratified later this year, only those actively farming land will be entitled to claim future payments. For landowners who have no intention of becoming an active farmer in 2015, they probably should sell their entitlement now – either to their farmer tenant or a land agent. If they wait until 2015, the entitlement will probably be lost.

However, for those selling or buying entitlements, it remains a dip into the unknown.

The active farmer definition still has to move through various consultation processes in Europe, so it is not certain that landowners will be out. DARD has proposed abolishing all entitlements at the end of 2014 and starting again in 2015. It has also proposed that NI moves halfway to a flat rate across all of NI by 2019. These all remain proposals – no decisions have been taken.

The point made clear by DARD officials during the meeting with MLAs was that the deadline has been extended to give farmers and landowners more time to consider their options – it has not been extended in the expectation that more clarity will soon be forthcoming.

According to Andrew Elliot from DARD, there is a lot of consideration being given within the Department to the CAP reform decisions that are for DARD to take and those that need to be taken to the NI Executive.

Meanwhile, DUP MEP Diane Dodds has called on DARD Minister Michelle O’Neill to come to an immediate decision on CAP reform issues and bring a paper to the NI Executive without any further delay.

DARD writing to all SFP claimants

The Department is to issue a letter to all 38,000 claimants of SFP in NI in an attempt to ensure that everyone is aware of the possible rules around the definition of an ‘active farmer’. The letter will direct claimants to the ‘question and answer’ document available on the DARD website on ‘active farmers’.