Payments worth €182m under the areas of natural constraints (ANC) scheme have started to issue to 85,000 farmers, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has announced.

“The ANC scheme is crucial to farm families and I know the importance of getting payments out to applicants as quickly as possible,” the Minister said.

“The issuing of these payments in mid-September highlights our commitment to make payments to farmers at the earliest possible time. The ANC payments are a timely and significant financial boost for farmers and for the wider rural economy.

“Payments will be visible in farmers’ bank accounts in the coming days and my Department will continue to process, as a matter of urgency, all remaining cases for payment as they meet scheme criteria,” he said.

BPS payments

As revealed by the Irish Farmers Journal last week, the Minister also confirmed that arrangements are being made by his Department to facilitate payment of the advance of 70% under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) from 17 October 2022.

In line with last year’s arrangement, the ANC payments currently issuing are an 85% advance payment. The 15% of balancing payments are due to commence in early December.

Clearing applications

The Department said that not all applications are currently cleared for payment under the ANC scheme.

“In particular, many farmers have yet to satisfy the annual average stocking density of 0.15 livestock units per forage hectare for the calendar year. However, farmers have until 31 December 2022 to do so.

"Such cases can only be cleared for payment once this requirement has been confirmed,” it said.

Regular pay runs will continue in the coming weeks to ensure cleared cases are processed for payment as quickly as possible.

Farmers are asked to submit any outstanding stocking evidence in support of their application to the Department’s Portlaoise office as soon as possible to facilitate the early release of payments.