In the past week, 400 farmers in BDGP I and II received payment through the scheme. This brings a total of 23,853 farmers who have received €42.4m in relation to 2017 scheme year payments.

According to a Department spokesperson: “The payments that issued last week were made to participants in BDGP I and II and were made to a combination of herds that had not fulfilled their scheme obligations prior to this, inspection cases that have recently been finalised and BDGP II herds who had requested to use 2017 as a reference year.”

Requirements

The Department outlined that there are still approximately 1,000 farmers who have not received payment through the scheme.

This is because they have not yet fulfilled their requirements under the programme. The intention by the Department is to finalise payments for the 2017 scheme year in early June.

Reminder letters are also in the process of being issued to farmers who have to submit some or all of animal surveys, carbon navigator updates and genomic samples.

The forms and samples must be returned by 30 April to ensure payment in June, according to the Department.

The majority of farmers in the scheme received payment in December 2017, with €38.2m issuing to 21,295 farmers during the month.

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