An analysis of CAP money coming to the UK by the Irish Farmers Journal has highlighted that the average payment per farm in NI is the lowest of any of the nations of the UK.

Between October 2016 and October 2017, NI received CAP money totalling £306.3m, of which £275.7m came in the form of direct payments, with the remainder mainly coming in the form of schemes which are funded under the Rural Development Programme (RDP).

In total, 25,500 businesses were in receipt of CAP money, but 1,270 of these businesses only receive RDP funding and are not directly involved in farming. That leaves 24,230 farm businesses in NI in receipt of direct payments (Basic Payment Scheme and greening). Across all these farms, the average payment was £11,323, and ranged from only £2.85, right up to the highest claimant, who received direct payments worth £214,090.

The majority of farmers in NI (15,456) received less than £10,000 per farm, and 9,841 get under £5,000. Only a total of 596 get more than £50,000, 69 received direct payments of over £100,000, and just 5 received payments of over £200,000.

With larger farms, particularly in England and Scotland, a higher proportion of claimants there receive more than £100,000 in direct payments. Scotland might have the lowest payment rates per hectare (around one third of rates in NI), but it receives the highest payments per farm. Our analysis indicates that there were 17,990 claimants receiving direct payments in 2016/17, to an average of £23,847 each. A total of 562 got more than £100,000.

In England, 85,734 direct payment claimants received an average of £19,698 per farm, and 2,221 got more than £100,000. The highest payment went to the farm owned by vacuum cleaner inventor, James Dyson, who received over £2m, and now owns a reported 33,000 acres.

In Wales, 15,431 claimants received an average of £14,472, with 65 getting more than £100,000.

The analysis highlights the large variation in farm size and payment rates across the UK. Earlier this year Defra in England floated the idea that payments during a transition period after brexit could be capped at £100,000, or progressive reductions applied to payments above £25,000. Any money saved would be used to kick-start new agri-environment schemes, to be fully rolled about beyond 2024.

The possibility of a limit to payments has also been proposed by the European Commission for a new CAP beyond 2020. Direct payments to farmers above a threshold €60,000 will be reduced, and capped for payments above €100,000 per farm.