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A total of 6,483 farms have been selected for a satellite inspection in 2020 to check land eligibility, down marginally on last year.
As of 30 September, over half of the scheduled inspections have been completed.
The progress is largely in line with previous years - 3,536 out of 6,483 inspections (55%) have been completed compared to 3,808 out of 6,845 inspections (56%) at the same point in 2019.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue released the figures to Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill.
Inspections
The Minister explained: “The process associated with remote sensing/satellite inspections involves a number of stages including the selection of cases for inspection as part of the annual risk analysis process, the acquisition of imagery from the European Commission at two stages during the year to provide a complete picture of land eligibility usage and taking account of the growing period for arable crops and a comprehensive review of the range of satellite imagery to ensure compliance with scheme requirements.”
Where it is not possible to make an accurate determination on the eligibility of a parcel, a field visit is carried out.
ANC payments
In previous years farmers selected for inspection faced delays in their payments. However, farmers selected for inspections that have not yet been completed received their advance ANC payments from the Department this year.
A total of 5,652 farmers receiving an ANC payment have been selected for inspection. Of these, 4,465 have received an ANC advance payment, the minister said.
Of the remaining 1,187 cases, 971 have yet to meet their stocking density requirements.
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