There is considerable pressure on advisers as they race to fill out scheme applications while also explaining to farmers the raft of changes in effect from this year's new CAP schemes.

President of the Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) Noel Feeney, told the Irish Farmers Journal that the workload on advisers this spring is “very intense” compared to other years.

“The volume of work getting done has slowed down, because we have to spend time with farmers to outline the new schemes. Farmers want to sit down and know what their payment will be this year compared to last year,” he said.

To date, just over 20,000 of the expected 128,000 applications have been received for the BISS scheme.

Some 11,080 farmers have applied for the National Liming Programme, while almost 4,000 farmers have applied to the SCEP scheme.

Head of advisory at Teagasc, Thomas Curran, said that advisers are “exceptionally busy” at this time.

“Consultations are taking longer this year. They are in-person and we need to explain the changes to farmers around eco-schemes and space for nature."

Pat Clarke, Teagasc regional manager for Galway and Clare, said that advisers are busier than before too: “From now onwards, it is tight, but it will be all hands on [deck].”

Cavan advisor, Tom Canning, has found that many older farmers or those with smaller numbers are “turning their back” on the new SCEP scheme. He said that previously where it took 20 to 30 minutes to complete a BISS application, it is now taking "near enough" to an hour.

Systems

Laura Johnston of Clone Agri said that the online systems are working reasonably well.

"There were a few downtimes with BISS, but to be fair the computer systems are working well. There is a lot to do,” she said.

"BISS applications are taking longer this year, they’re not quite as straightforward as they used to be.

“The suckler scheme closes on 22 May, the BISS on 29 May; there’s no value in that - they should be the same date so they can be done together.”