It’s absolutely essential that the maximum number of applicants in tranche 19 of TAMS are approved as soon as possible to provide certainty to farmers who are planning to build, IFA deputy president Brian Rushe has said.

The comments came at a recent Charter of Rights meeting with the Department of Agriculture.

Rushe said the Department confirmed that the issue around transfer of entitlements, which held up payments of around 1,000 farmers, has been resolved for most and the remaining will be resolved in the next week.

ANC update

IFA rural development chair Michael Biggins also welcomed confirmation that the ANC balancing payment will commence next week.

Biggins stressed the importance of paying the remaining farmers as soon as they meet their stocking density requirements.

Farmers will be paid as soon as they meet the required stocking density, which in some cases will run to the end of the year.

Biggins also called on the Department to pay ANC to farmers who omitted in error to tick the ANC box on their BPS application this year.

“A system where a farmer has to opt out rather than opt in would ensure there are fewer errors when submitting applications.”

Nitrates and BEAM

IFA national livestock chair Brendan Golden welcomed the facilitation of farmers who made draft applications to the BEEP-S scheme and those who operated under the impression they were participating in the scheme.

At the meeting, Golden also raised the issue of the increase in the organic nitrogen calculation for dairy cows from 85kg to 89kg from 1 January.

“This cannot be applied to the overall nitrates level for the farm for the purposes of determining compliance with the 5% reduction requirement for farmers in the BEAM scheme who have dairy-bred cows on their farms.”

Golden welcomed the commitment from the Department that a tolerance on meeting 90% of the female replacement criteria in the BDGP scheme will be provided.

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4,524 applications for consideration in tranche 19 of TAMS II