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Issues around cattle identification and nitrates rules were the most common reasons for NI farmers to be hit with penalties during cross-compliance inspections last year.
Figures obtained from DAERA by the Irish Farmers Journal show that 25% of the 654 farms that were inspected for the Statutory Management Requirement relating to cattle identification and registration (SMR7) received penalties in 2018.
A breakdown of the figures shows that 48 farmers were fined 1% of their basic payment, 79 lost 3%, 29 were deducted 5%, three farms were fined between 15% and 20%, and four had over 20% of their payment deducted.
SMR7 covers rules relating to cattle tags, notifying births, deaths and movements, and keeping an up-to-date herd register.
The other problem area for NI farmers in cross-compliance inspection relates to the protection of water against nitrates pollution (SMR1). There were 121 farmers fined following inspections for SMR1 during 2018, which works out at 45% of all those receiving an inspection.
However, all breaches were deemed negligent, as opposed to intentional, which means all penalties for SMR1 equated to less than 5% of payments. Figures from DAERA show that 19 farms were deducted 1%, 74 lost 3% and 28 had a 5% penalty. A combination of risk-based criteria and random selection was used by DAERA to choose farms for inspection.
On enquiry, a DAERA spokesperson said that a full analysis of non-compliances for 2018 is not available yet, but common reasons for breaches of SMR1 in previous years appear to be slurry spreading during closed periods, and nutrient run-off into waterways.
Other
The number of penalties for other cross-compliance rules were much lower and there were no breaches for 12 of the 20 cross-compliance standards during any inspections in NI last year.
There are also Good Agricultural and Environment Condition (GAEC) standards, and the one where most issues were found last year relates to GAEC7.
Breaches of this rule can relate to removing hedges and ditches without permission from DAERA. In total, 4.9% of the 249 inspections resulted in penalties to payments
Land eligibility
Payment deductions for land eligibility were well down in 2018, with 92 or 7.7% of the 1,200 farms inspected receiving penalties to area-based payments.
The total value of land eligibility penalties across NI came to €42,582 last year, with 189ha of land deducted from claims.
In 2017, a total of 268 farm businesses received penalties worth €138,897 across 675ha.
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