There has been a change at the top of the list of direct payments made to NI farmers, with big landowners mainly in hill areas replaced by large beef-finishing operations.

Covering the payment window from 16 October 2024 to 15 October 2025, the data now includes payments made from the first year of the Beef Carbon Reduction (BCR) scheme.

It is this payment which has significantly skewed the DAERA list, with the top claimant being D C Cattle Ltd. This Co Armagh business received the highest BCR payment of £234,975 and when Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) money of £149,942 is included, it is a total of £384,917. In second place with £347,200 is Foyle Food Group director Wayne Acheson, who owns a large farm and beef-finishing operation outside Cookstown. His total is £205,330.

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Unlike the BPS and its replacement, the Farm Sustainability Payment, there is no upper limit to the amount of money paid to individual businesses under BCR. However, it is important to point out that finishers passed on a lot of this money in higher prices for store cattle once DAERA put the scheme in place from 1 January 2025.