Revealed: top 20 direct payments in 2020

Last year some 122,000 farmers received direct payments worth €1.2bn with the top 20 recipients claiming just over €3.6m of the pot, newly published figures from the Department of Agriculture show.

At the top of the list for direct payments in 2020 is Brendan Kelleher. The Cork farmer received €245,600 in direct payments along with ANC and other scheme payments amounting to a further €56,000.

Second is O’Shea Farms in Co Kilkenny. The potato and carrot growers received a direct payment worth €222,600 last year, a slight reduction on 2019.

Sheikhs and beef barons

In third position is Godolphin Ireland UC with payments totalling €222,300. Godolphin is the thoroughbred breeding and racing operation founded by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum based in Co Kildare. The stud farm’s payment has increased by €5,500 since 2019.

Greenhills Dairies, a dairy farm in east Cork claimed a payment of €215,400.

Two farms in Louth in which Larry Goodman and members of his family are directors placed fifth and sixth on the list. Glydee Farms received a payment of €210,500 and Branganstown Farms received a payment of €204,400.

Combined the payments amount to €414,900, an increase of almost €15,000 on 2019.

The last payment on the list exceeding €200,000 is Park Farms Partnership in Co Carlow with a payment of €201,100.

Han Weirner Meis is next on the list. The Galway farmer’s direct payment has increased by €23,700 to €191,900 in addition to €27,000 in organic farming, ANC and other scheme payments.

Rounding out the top 10 is Michael and Gabriel Hoey, the co-founders of Country Crest in Co Dublin who received €186,800 and Castlecor Potatoes in Cork with a payment of €180,250.

Number 10 to 20

The next 10 largest payments go to: