Ineligible land submitted on farmers’ Single Farm Payment (SFP) application as eligible continues to be identified during Department inspections. Eligibility checks must be carried out on 5% of applicants, around 6,500 farms, to verify the actual area claimed in the form corresponds to the area farmed by the farmer and to ensure that any ineligible land or features are deducted. Around 85% of eligibility inspections are carried out remotely by satellite. Department inspectors visit these farms where a definitive decision cannot be made using the imagery. In previous years, ineligible land was deducted in around 90% of the cases, the majority under the 3% level, below which no penalties are imposed. Farmers can deduct ineligible land from their SFP applications at any time as long as they have not been notified of an inspection or a processing issue by the Department. A small number of cattle and sheep inspections are being carried out.