A farmer has criticised DAERA for not sending notification that his land was subject to inspection earlier this year.

The farmer contacted the Irish Farmers Journal after DAERA confirmed that he would not be in receipt of an advanced CAP payment because his inspection had not been processed.

It is DAERA policy to give no notification of inspections prior to checks taking place and, with most inspections conducted by remote-sensing technology, farmers are generally unaware that they are being inspected at the time.

The farmer in question only realised he was subject to an inspection after he enquired about why he had not received an advanced CAP payment this week.

“Given costs and margins this year, it is a bad blow when you thought the money was coming. They couldn’t give me any indication as to when I might get paid,” he said.