There is another significant change in the Animal Welfare and Nutrient Storage Scheme (AWNSS) entry route with the Department of Agriculture now permitting farmers to purchase certain mobile investments prior to receiving written approval. This investment will be entirely at the risk of the applicant.

The terms and conditions state that any expenditure spent or investment work started/delivered before the date of submission of an application is ineligible.

However, in certain circumstances, “deposits/expenditure paid on or after the date of submission of an application are considered eligible expenditure”.

The terms and conditions state that the “installation or construction of a non-mobile investment cannot commence until written approval has been issued to the applicant(s)”.

Ineligible

It warns that “the commencement of construction or the installation of investment work prior to approval is ineligible and any sub-investment that has been installed or where work has commenced prior to approval will be rejected from the application”.

It also warns that expenditure on mobile investments prior to written approval is at a farmer’s own risk.

“Applicants should be aware that there is no certainty that an eligible application will be approved, even where a deposit or expenditure has been paid. Therefore, deposits/expenditure paid prior to approval are at the applicant(s) own risk.”

Where an applicant submits and application and places a deposit on an investment but reapplies under the scheme as they are unsuccessful in ranking and selection, the deposit paid will be allowed if there is no substantial change to investment details between applications.

It should be noted, however, that “if the application is not successful in the subsequent tranche, it will then be automatically rejected and reset to a draft application”.