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EFS participants accept second tranche agreements
The first agreements under the second tranche of the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) have been accepted by NI farmers.
On the higher level scheme, which is predominantly for land in environmentally designated areas, over 170 agreements have been issued by DAERA – with 62 of these accepted by farmers to date.
The wider level scheme is for all types of farmland in NI and over 1,400 scheme agreements have been issued – with 255 accepted to date.
DAERA received 538 applications for the second tranche of EFS higher level in April 2018 and 1,639 applications for EFS wider-level last September.
A DAERA spokesperson said that more higher and wider level agreements will be issued by the department in the coming weeks.
“After reading the relevant information, you must either accept or decline your offer of an agreement by the date indicated in the letter,” guidance published on Wednesday reads.
Audit office to investigate AD plants in NI
The comptroller and auditor general for NI, Kieran Donnelly, is to investigate how financial incentives are claimed by anaerobic digestion (AD) plants in NI.
An NI audit office spokesperson confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal last week that a report on AD plants in NI will be published by Donnelly in the coming months.
It follows a BBC news report which alleged that there are “phantom plants” that exist in name only and use a loophole to receive subsidy under the NI Renewable Obligation scheme.
“It should be done within a month or two. Obviously, that might change, but at this stage we see that it should be quite a short report,” the spokesperson said.
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