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A last-minute rush saw 18,100 farmers submit some or all of their Knowledge Transfer (KT) data to the Department of Agriculture.
Around 17,700 complete farm improvement plans were lodged by the deadline of midnight on Wednesday, 22 August.
A further 400-farm improvement plans were partially completed on the KT system by group facilitators.
Approximately 15,900 animal health measures were completed by KT-approved vets on behalf of farmers in livestock groups. Another 20 were partially completed.
Incomplete applications
“The overall position is that some 18,100 KT participants have either fully or partially submitted the data submission requirements for year one of KT,” a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“In some cases, the farm improvement plan elements are submitted/completed, but the animal health measure elements are not, and vice versa.”
All of the 18,100 farmer applications will now be checked
All of the 18,100 farmer applications will now be checked to ensure they meet the programme requirements, including that they attended all their group meetings.
Partial payment
The Department of Agriculture has said that where farmers’ applications are not complete, they may receive only a partial payment, based on their level of completion.
It added that non-completion of the farm improvement plan does not exclude a farmer from moving forward to year two.
Withdrawals
Since 20,000 farmers originally signed up for the Knowledge Transfer programme, some 260 farmers officially notified the Department that they were dropping out of the scheme.
However, a number of KT groups did not run after being signed up, or had fewer farmers than originally planned.
As a result, the Department told the Irish Farmers Journal that under 19,100 approved KT participants participated in the first year of the scheme.
Department ducks Knowledge Transfer charges row
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