Rules relating to landscape features were the main reason for penalties being applied to farm payments in NI last year. New figures from DAERA show that breaches of these rules led to over a third of all cross-compliance penalties in 2025.
Common problems with rules on the retention of landscape features include removing hedges, sheughs and ditches without prior written permission from DAERA.
After that, a quarter of farm penalties last year were due to rule breaches about the protection of water against nitrates pollution. The new figures also show that just over a fifth of cross compliance penalties stemmed from regulations on cattle identification.
Overall, the total number of penalties applied to NI farmers fell by 9% last year. There were 846 breaches recorded during 2025, which is a four-year low.
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