“I formed a registered farm partnership with my father last year. We formed the partnership as we understood that we would be better off in terms of qualifying for grants and top-up payments and also as a way of facilitating our succession plans. While we understood that traditionally farmers who farmed in partnership may have lost out on one of the Disadvantaged Area Payments, we were assured that we would each be entitled to draw down our individual payments under the new scheme – the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) scheme. However, we have still not received our payments and the Department of Agriculture has recently advised us that neither of us is entitled to the ANC payment because we are farming in partnership. We wouldn’t have formed a partnership had we known this beforehand. Is the Department of Agriculture entitled to do this?”
You are correct in saying that it was intended that individual partners within a registered farm partnership would be entitled to claim ANC payment in their own right. Indeed, it appears from material published on both farm advisory bodies and farm organisations websites that it was generally understood that partners in a registered farm partnership would be entitled to avail individually of separate payment up to and including maximum area of payment.
However, it appears from anecdotal evidence that the Department is refusing to pay out ANC payments to several registered farm partnerships. It is understood that the decision is justified on the basis that there is no mechanism to calculate the stocking rate where the two herd numbers are merged.
Under the terms and conditions of the ANC, in order to qualify for payment, there must be minimum stocking density rates. This has led to a bizarre situation where partners within a registered farm partnership who maintained their separate herd numbers can qualify for their individual ANC payments while the same partners who had merged their herd numbers cannot qualify for any ANC payment.
Many farmers were put off forming registered farm partnerships due to the reduced level of payment to a partnership under the Disadvantaged Area Scheme (DAS). Historically, the DAS payment was paid on a maximum amount of 30ha or up to 34ha where there was mountain-type grazing land declared.
Say, for example, two farmers had 30ha of land each qualifying for DAS. If these farmers formed a partnership and farmed through a single partnership herd number, they were limited to a maximum DAS on 30ha rather than the 60ha if they had farmed individually. This meant that the farmers in partnership were losing out on a payment of between €2,468 to €3,017 per year, depending on whether the land was mountain-type grazing or less severely handicapped lowland.
However, this anomaly was set to be rectified under the 2015 ANC, which replaced the DAS. The terms and conditions of ANC are as follows:
“Applicants who are partners in a partnership, under Irish National Regulations (refer to section 13), can continue to benefit individually under the scheme, based on the area of ANC land they contribute to the partnership. (Individual threshold limits will apply at measure level for registered partnership members).”
Section 13 includes a statement that “Being on the register will allow the Department ensure that the members of such partnerships are fully catered for in the implementation of the new CAP reform schemes such as TAMS, GLAS, ANC, and BPS”.
Further, Section 13 provides as follows:
Applicants registered under farm partnership registration will be required to submit one BPS and other area based scheme application form with details of all land farmed by the partnership listed.Individual maximum thresholds will be applicable to each individual partner who contributed land which is designated as ANC to the partnership.Each individual partner must meet the scheme eligibility requirements at individual level. No payment will be due to the partnership where one or more individual partner(s) fail to meet scheme eligibility requirements at individual level. Only one payment under ANC will issue to the partnership. Payments will be calculated at overall partnership level, taking account of individual maximum thresholds.It appears from a literal interpretation of the foregoing that individual partners within the registered farm partnership should qualify for ANC payments up to their individual limits. Taking the previous example, if each individual partner was claiming DAS for 30ha, that individual would continue to be eligible to claim ANC on 30ha. This would mean a payment of ANC on 60ha to the registered farm partnership.
It is very much hoped that the issue can be resolved by the Department of Agriculture.
“I formed a registered farm partnership with my father last year. We formed the partnership as we understood that we would be better off in terms of qualifying for grants and top-up payments and also as a way of facilitating our succession plans. While we understood that traditionally farmers who farmed in partnership may have lost out on one of the Disadvantaged Area Payments, we were assured that we would each be entitled to draw down our individual payments under the new scheme – the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) scheme. However, we have still not received our payments and the Department of Agriculture has recently advised us that neither of us is entitled to the ANC payment because we are farming in partnership. We wouldn’t have formed a partnership had we known this beforehand. Is the Department of Agriculture entitled to do this?”
You are correct in saying that it was intended that individual partners within a registered farm partnership would be entitled to claim ANC payment in their own right. Indeed, it appears from material published on both farm advisory bodies and farm organisations websites that it was generally understood that partners in a registered farm partnership would be entitled to avail individually of separate payment up to and including maximum area of payment.
However, it appears from anecdotal evidence that the Department is refusing to pay out ANC payments to several registered farm partnerships. It is understood that the decision is justified on the basis that there is no mechanism to calculate the stocking rate where the two herd numbers are merged.
Under the terms and conditions of the ANC, in order to qualify for payment, there must be minimum stocking density rates. This has led to a bizarre situation where partners within a registered farm partnership who maintained their separate herd numbers can qualify for their individual ANC payments while the same partners who had merged their herd numbers cannot qualify for any ANC payment.
Many farmers were put off forming registered farm partnerships due to the reduced level of payment to a partnership under the Disadvantaged Area Scheme (DAS). Historically, the DAS payment was paid on a maximum amount of 30ha or up to 34ha where there was mountain-type grazing land declared.
Say, for example, two farmers had 30ha of land each qualifying for DAS. If these farmers formed a partnership and farmed through a single partnership herd number, they were limited to a maximum DAS on 30ha rather than the 60ha if they had farmed individually. This meant that the farmers in partnership were losing out on a payment of between €2,468 to €3,017 per year, depending on whether the land was mountain-type grazing or less severely handicapped lowland.
However, this anomaly was set to be rectified under the 2015 ANC, which replaced the DAS. The terms and conditions of ANC are as follows:
“Applicants who are partners in a partnership, under Irish National Regulations (refer to section 13), can continue to benefit individually under the scheme, based on the area of ANC land they contribute to the partnership. (Individual threshold limits will apply at measure level for registered partnership members).”
Section 13 includes a statement that “Being on the register will allow the Department ensure that the members of such partnerships are fully catered for in the implementation of the new CAP reform schemes such as TAMS, GLAS, ANC, and BPS”.
Further, Section 13 provides as follows:
Applicants registered under farm partnership registration will be required to submit one BPS and other area based scheme application form with details of all land farmed by the partnership listed.Individual maximum thresholds will be applicable to each individual partner who contributed land which is designated as ANC to the partnership.Each individual partner must meet the scheme eligibility requirements at individual level. No payment will be due to the partnership where one or more individual partner(s) fail to meet scheme eligibility requirements at individual level. Only one payment under ANC will issue to the partnership. Payments will be calculated at overall partnership level, taking account of individual maximum thresholds.It appears from a literal interpretation of the foregoing that individual partners within the registered farm partnership should qualify for ANC payments up to their individual limits. Taking the previous example, if each individual partner was claiming DAS for 30ha, that individual would continue to be eligible to claim ANC on 30ha. This would mean a payment of ANC on 60ha to the registered farm partnership.
It is very much hoped that the issue can be resolved by the Department of Agriculture.
SHARING OPTIONS