Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon announced this week that a total of 121,151 Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) applications were submitted before the deadline of midnight on 15 May 2026. This figure is in line with recent years and includes 2,902 temporary reference number applications, ones where no BISS entitlements are held (if applicable), and those without any claimed area.
There were 119,300 applications made to the Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability, 118,653 for the Eco Scheme and 115,094 for Areas of Natural Constraints. The BISS application also covered schemes including the Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers (CIS-YF), Protein Aid, Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) and the annual claims for Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) and the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).
Huge commitment
Minister Heydon commented: “One of the key milestones is the 15 May deadline and I’m delighted that so many farmers have submitted their forms on time. This figure reflects the massive effort made by farmers, FAS advisers and by my department in assisting farmers with these schemes and their various requirements. I want to particularly acknowledge the advisory services again this year, who have worked extremely hard with their client farmers to meet a range of application deadlines in recent months.”
The minister also paid tribute to the efforts of his department, highlighting that 1,437 farmers received assistance at the 16 one-to-one clinics held across the country, while 317 received help in Portlaoise.
“The Direct Payments Helpdesk of my department made and received over 6,875 calls to farmers since 1 April to help them with their applications and queries. I want every eligible farmer to maximise their payments because I and everyone in my department knows how crucial they are to farm families.”
Amendments
Attention has now turned to late applications and amendments. Applications will be accepted after 15 May closing date up until 9 June 2026, but there will be a 1% per working day penalty imposed as per the terms and conditions.
The same rate of deduction will apply to Eco scheme, CRISS, CIS-YF, Protein Aid, ANC, ACRES, SIM and SCEP. Payment under any of these Schemes cannot be made in 2026 unless a valid 2026 BISS application is submitted. BISS and other area-based scheme amendments can take place without penalty up until Sunday 31 May 2026 online through the MyAgfood.ie portal.
The Department advises: “Amendments should be completed fully and accurately as they will become part of your 2026 BISS Application. Where a new plot is added, a map outlining the boundaries of that plot should be submitted to the Department through the online map editing system. This also applies where any other supporting documentation, for example, evidence of commonage rights, is required.”
Late amendments
There is a facility for late amendments with additional parcels/plots or amended claimed areas and this will be accepted online up to and including 10 June 2026, but subject to a late amendment penalty. Payment on the parcel(s) concerned will be reduced by 1% for each working day in this period that the Amendment is late. The 10 June 2026 is the last date for amendments with penalty less than 100%.
Other amendments
The terms and conditions state that “an applicant may withdraw land, reduce the claimed area of a parcel or change use from eligible to ineligible (for example, the transfer of a house site), from your application without penalty, up to the 1 September 2026 closing date for amendments, provided:
The Department has not notified you about any issues concerning your 2026 BISS application. You have not been notified of an AMS notification or an on-the-spot inspection.You have not been either fully or partially paid under the BISS in respect of 2026”.An applicant may also change a declared crop use, up to midnight 1 September 2026. If you request to change a tillage crop use you will be required to provide supporting evidence. This can take the form of seed receipts which can be uploaded to your agfood.ie account, or geotagged photo’s which can be emailed to geotag@agriculture.gov.ie
Transfer of entitlements
There were 34,359 applications received to transfer payment entitlements. The closing date for the transfer of entitlements was 15 May 2026. However, the Department explains that “if a change made to a BISS online application leads to a farmer having insufficient land to use all of their entitlements, they will have the opportunity to submit a transfer of entitlements application up until midnight on 31 May 2025. This is only available to farmers who can show that they have made a change to their BISS application by 31 May 2025 and that change has directly led to the need to transfer entitlements”.
Other schemes
Meanwhile it is important to note that there is a late application period for a number of other schemes which also closed on 15 May 2026. There is a 25 calendar day period after the 15 May 2026 closing date for the acceptance of late applications and any necessary supporting documentation in the National Sheep Welfare Scheme and the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme.
However, deductions to payments at a rate of 1% per working day in respect of these schemes will apply to late applications which are received during this period.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon announced this week that a total of 121,151 Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) applications were submitted before the deadline of midnight on 15 May 2026. This figure is in line with recent years and includes 2,902 temporary reference number applications, ones where no BISS entitlements are held (if applicable), and those without any claimed area.
There were 119,300 applications made to the Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability, 118,653 for the Eco Scheme and 115,094 for Areas of Natural Constraints. The BISS application also covered schemes including the Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers (CIS-YF), Protein Aid, Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) and the annual claims for Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) and the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).
Huge commitment
Minister Heydon commented: “One of the key milestones is the 15 May deadline and I’m delighted that so many farmers have submitted their forms on time. This figure reflects the massive effort made by farmers, FAS advisers and by my department in assisting farmers with these schemes and their various requirements. I want to particularly acknowledge the advisory services again this year, who have worked extremely hard with their client farmers to meet a range of application deadlines in recent months.”
The minister also paid tribute to the efforts of his department, highlighting that 1,437 farmers received assistance at the 16 one-to-one clinics held across the country, while 317 received help in Portlaoise.
“The Direct Payments Helpdesk of my department made and received over 6,875 calls to farmers since 1 April to help them with their applications and queries. I want every eligible farmer to maximise their payments because I and everyone in my department knows how crucial they are to farm families.”
Amendments
Attention has now turned to late applications and amendments. Applications will be accepted after 15 May closing date up until 9 June 2026, but there will be a 1% per working day penalty imposed as per the terms and conditions.
The same rate of deduction will apply to Eco scheme, CRISS, CIS-YF, Protein Aid, ANC, ACRES, SIM and SCEP. Payment under any of these Schemes cannot be made in 2026 unless a valid 2026 BISS application is submitted. BISS and other area-based scheme amendments can take place without penalty up until Sunday 31 May 2026 online through the MyAgfood.ie portal.
The Department advises: “Amendments should be completed fully and accurately as they will become part of your 2026 BISS Application. Where a new plot is added, a map outlining the boundaries of that plot should be submitted to the Department through the online map editing system. This also applies where any other supporting documentation, for example, evidence of commonage rights, is required.”
Late amendments
There is a facility for late amendments with additional parcels/plots or amended claimed areas and this will be accepted online up to and including 10 June 2026, but subject to a late amendment penalty. Payment on the parcel(s) concerned will be reduced by 1% for each working day in this period that the Amendment is late. The 10 June 2026 is the last date for amendments with penalty less than 100%.
Other amendments
The terms and conditions state that “an applicant may withdraw land, reduce the claimed area of a parcel or change use from eligible to ineligible (for example, the transfer of a house site), from your application without penalty, up to the 1 September 2026 closing date for amendments, provided:
The Department has not notified you about any issues concerning your 2026 BISS application. You have not been notified of an AMS notification or an on-the-spot inspection.You have not been either fully or partially paid under the BISS in respect of 2026”.An applicant may also change a declared crop use, up to midnight 1 September 2026. If you request to change a tillage crop use you will be required to provide supporting evidence. This can take the form of seed receipts which can be uploaded to your agfood.ie account, or geotagged photo’s which can be emailed to geotag@agriculture.gov.ie
Transfer of entitlements
There were 34,359 applications received to transfer payment entitlements. The closing date for the transfer of entitlements was 15 May 2026. However, the Department explains that “if a change made to a BISS online application leads to a farmer having insufficient land to use all of their entitlements, they will have the opportunity to submit a transfer of entitlements application up until midnight on 31 May 2025. This is only available to farmers who can show that they have made a change to their BISS application by 31 May 2025 and that change has directly led to the need to transfer entitlements”.
Other schemes
Meanwhile it is important to note that there is a late application period for a number of other schemes which also closed on 15 May 2026. There is a 25 calendar day period after the 15 May 2026 closing date for the acceptance of late applications and any necessary supporting documentation in the National Sheep Welfare Scheme and the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme.
However, deductions to payments at a rate of 1% per working day in respect of these schemes will apply to late applications which are received during this period.
SHARING OPTIONS