There has been a surge in applications submitted to the National Liming Programme ahead of the deadline of Thursday 20 April.

The number of applications submitted as of Wednesday morning, 19 April, was recorded at over 25,000 applications, an increase of 14,000 applications.

Meanwhile, over 6,500 more Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) applications have been submitted since last week with numbers standing at 26,687 on Wednesday morning.

The number of Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme applications is approximately 5,500 (up 1,500), while there have been 2,300 applications to the Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme.