Payments worth €203m were made last week to 106,913 farmers as part of advance payments of the 2026 Eco-Scheme.

This represents about 92% of all 2026 eligible applicants. The number of farmers receiving payments is about 2,940 lower than those that received advance payments in 2025.

But the total payment is approximately €8.5m higher due to the advance payment increasing by 5% to 75%.

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The level of payment is unchanged at €66 per eligible hectare.

Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said the aim of Ireland’s Eco-Scheme is “to reward farmers for undertaking actions beneficial to the climate, environment, water quality and biodiversity”.

The Minister urged any farmers with outstanding requests for documentation of evidence from the Department to return it as soon as possible and also for farmers who applied for Agricultural Practice 3 and/or Agricultural Practice 5 to put up their closing stocks on the National Fertiliser Database to allow payments to issue as soon as possible.

The Department is advising any farmers wishing to make contact regarding their Eco-Scheme payment to phone their direct payments helpdesk on 057 8674422. Farmers can also submit queries online via www.MyAgfood.ie.

BISS and CRISS payments

Earlier this week Minister Heydon announced progress regarding recent delays to the issuing of payments under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS) payments.

He said: “I have been working intensively to find a solution to the delays in BISS and CRISS payments and I can now confirm that payments will commence before the weekend. This will minimise the delays farmers have seen and I want to acknowledge the co-operation of the Unions involved in recognising the importance of these payments to farmers throughout the country.”