Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) payments totalling €185.6m are issuing to farmers from today, the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has announced.

Regular pay runs will continue in the coming weeks to ensure cleared cases are processed for payment as quickly as possible.

Farmers should submit any outstanding stocking evidence in support of their application to the Department’s Portlaoise office as soon as possible to facilitate the early release of payments.

Challenges

“I am conscious of the many challenges faced by farmers in the past year due to adverse weather conditions and other external factors," Creed said.

"These payments represent a timely and significant financial boost for farmers and for the wider rural economy. My Department will continue to process, as a matter of urgency, all remaining cases for payment as they meet scheme criteria.”

Increased payments

Further to an additional €25m for the 2018 ANC budget, farmers will receive increased payments under the scheme this year. The €185.6m issuing in the first tranche of payments in 2018 is increased on the equivalent 2017 figure of €160m.

The minister also confirmed that arrangements are on target to facilitate payment of the advance of 70% under the Basic Payment Scheme with effect from 16 October

In addition, the number of farmers being paid in this first tranche has increased from 75,000 in 2017 to almost 77,000 this year.

In line with previous years, not all applications are currently cleared for payment under the scheme. In particular, many farmers have yet to satisfy the annual average stocking density of 0.15 livestock units per forage hectare for the calendar year. However, farmers have until 31 December 2018 to do so.

Such cases can only be cleared for payment once this requirement has been confirmed.

The minister also confirmed that arrangements are on target to facilitate payment of the advance of 70% under the Basic Payment Scheme with effect from 16 October 2018.