€270m paid under BISS/CRISS and €241m in ANC

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine paid out over €500m in balancing and full payments under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS), Complementary Redistributive Income Support (CRISS) and the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) this week. In the region of €31m was also paid as part of the commencement of payments under the Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers.

Around €270m was paid under BISS/CRISS on Monday, bringing total payments under the scheme in 2024 to €807m. There are 116,449 farmers now in receipt of a payment, with the Department reporting that 98% of eligible applicants have received a payment. This includes about 1,750 who received their payment in full this week, with interim payments paused for the last fortnight to process balancing payments.

This is not the final figure of farmers who will be deemed eligible to receive a payment, but is close to it, with about 119,700 receiving a BISS/CRISS payment in 2023.

Commenting on the payments, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said: “The BISS is designed to provide a direct income support to Irish farmers to underpin their continued sustainability and viability. This €807m, paid under the 2024 BISS and CRISS, is a vital support for farm families across the country and to the overall rural economy.”

ANC payments

The minister announced on Wednesday that payments totalling €241m have started to issue to 97,731 farmers under the Areas of Natural Constraint. This figure includes full payments to shy of 900 farmers whose applications have been cleared for payment over the last two weeks.

The minister reports that 99% of eligible applicants have received their payment under the scheme. This is again not the final number of farmers who are likely to receive an ANC payment, but is close to it, with about 99,200 farmers receiving a payment in 2023.

Minister McConalogue commented: “The efficient issuing of scheme payments is a key priority for my Department. The 15% balancing payment under the ANC scheme has commenced on schedule and is in line with Farmers’ Charter commitments.”

He added that the payment is an increase of the €238m paid to 95,000 farmers at balancing stage in 2023.

Young farmers

Meanwhile, a total of €31m is being paid out under CIS-YF to 5,584 young farmers.

“Supporting young people to kick-start their careers in farming is important not only to those individual young farmers, but to the sector at large, as they are so important to its future. To help them succeed in their businesses, I trebled the value of the young farmers payments in this current CAP programme and I am glad to see many young farmers now benefitting from the scheme,” said the minister.

Payments under the 2024 CIS-YF were set at €163.80 per eligible hectare, subject to a maximum of 50ha per eligible applicant. Payment entitlements under the 2024 National Reserve have been allocated at the national average payment entitlement value of €154.8, subject to a maximum allocation of 50 per successful applicant.

Outstanding queries

The minister stated that payments will be visible in farmers’ bank accounts in the coming days and that his Department will continue to process, as a matter of urgency, all remaining cases for payment as any outstanding queries are addressed. He urged any farmers who have outstanding queries to respond as soon as possible to facilitate payment.

Farmers wishing to contact the department regarding their BISS/CRISS/CIS-YF or ANC payment, can ring the Direct Payments Helpline at 057-8674422. Farmers can also submit any queries they may have online via their agfood.agriculture.gov.ie/sso-auth-ui-applicant/#/login.

ACRES payments

There has been no further updates on the number of farmers receiving payment under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme, with no press release or answers to questions from the Irish Farmers Journal forthcoming. It is impossible from reports from farmers and advisers to put any sort of an accurate estimate on numbers paid. It is presumed regular payment runs will take place, but no confirmation has been given.

Beef Welfare Scheme

Payments totalling €19.98m were also paid this week to 23,132 farmers under the National Beef Welfare Scheme. This represents 97.5% of applicants who submitted an application with not all of these likely to be eligible.

In announcing the payments, Minister McConalogue said: “I have increased targeted supports to the beef sector in successive years through this National Beef Welfare Programme and the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP). Farmers that participated in both schemes this year will receive a payment per cow and calf of €200.

“These measures support farm incomes, but also help to deliver on efficiency, environmental and animal welfare goals and with all these benefits in mind, I was very pleased to secure funding in Budget 2025 to increase this payment to €225 for next year.”

Payments under the scheme will show up as two separate payments in agfood.ie for those who completed the mandatory meal-feeding action and the optional vaccination action.

The Department also reminded farmers who have received a request to submit meal feeding and/or vaccination documentation, they should return them as soon as possible. Payments under the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme are also expected to start this week.