It has been a busy week on the payments front, with payments under several schemes sanctioned since the end of last week. Payments under the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS), National Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme (NDBWS) and Protein Aid Scheme commenced last Thursday, with balancing payments under the Eco Scheme coming in on Tuesday.

Payments under the National Beef Welfare Scheme (NBWS) are also listed on agfood.ie and primed for release, while reports indicate payments are also imminent under the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme, Tillage Incentive Scheme and the Straw Incorporation Measure.

Payments have also commenced under the Fodder Support Scheme to some farmers, while regular payment runs have resumed across the Areas of Natural Constraint, the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and the Complementary Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS).

Eco Scheme

Balancing payments worth almost €82m commenced on Tuesday. The 30% balancing payment brings the total paid to over €285m, with 113,724 farmers now in receipt. This leaves in the region of 5,500 farmers still to receive payment and Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue says his “Department will continue to process, as a matter of urgency, all remaining cases for payment as they meet scheme criteria”.

Farmers were again urged to respond to any requests for further information.

The payment rate under the 2023 Eco Scheme is set at €67/ha.

Organic Farming Scheme

A total of €32,873,834m was paid to 3,215 farmers under the 2023 Organic Farming Scheme (OFS). This equates to an average payment of some €10,225 per applicant. The sharp increase in participation, with almost 4,000 farmers now in the OFS, has witnessed payments increase from the €12.1m in 2022.

Payments to remaining farmers will be sanctioned once any queries are cleared. For example, to receive payment under OFS, an applicant must have received their BISS. Other payment delays likely arise from applicants still to complete the 25-hour training course, while reports indicate there is also a small number of Department IT issues also to sort.

Protein Aid Scheme

The funding allocated for the Protein Aid Scheme, which supports farmers in establishing nitrogen-fixing crops, in 2023, has been increased by €3m to €10m. In doing so, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue ensures that payments are not reduced due to the scheme being oversubscribed.

The payment rate has been set at €583/ha for beans, peas, lupins and soya, with a half rate payment of €291.50/ha for the protein cereal mix. Approximately €8.6m was paid to 1,355 farmers under the 2023 Protein Aid Scheme.

This represents a significant increase on the figure of €3.24m paid to 951 farmers in 2022. In addition, €0.1m was paid to 92 farmers under the 2023 Protein/Cereal Mix aspect of the scheme. Regular payment runs will continue as outstanding cases are cleared for payment. The email for protein aid queries is protein@agriculture.gov.ie.

Dairy beef

There was €5m paid to 7,966 farmers under the National Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme 2023. Payment is set at €20/eligible calf up to a maximum of 50 calves per herd, or a maximum payment of €1,000/herd. This is significantly ahead of the €3.58m paid to 6,451 farmers in 2022, with the payment rate increasing from 40 to 50 calves.

ANC

The latest scheme payments update released by the Department of Agriculture for the week ending 8 December, shows there was a further €7.2m paid to 1,374 farmers under the ANC. This brings the total payment under the 2023 ANC to €241.7m paid to 96,366 applicants, with approximately 3,000 farmers awaiting payments and more being processed weekly, as stocking rate requirements are satisfied.

BISS and CRISS

There were a number of other scheme payments last week. Payments under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and the Complementary Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS) have resumed after a three-week pause. Payments now stand at €766.5m paid to 114,684 applicants. This payment figure also includes €19.6m paid under the 2023 Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers and €1.3m under the 2023 National Reserve.

Checking payments

Payments which have been sanctioned or which are due to be made can be viewed via your agfood.ie account. These can be accessed through the heading ‘Financial Self-Services’. The payments which have been made or are in the process of being made will appear on the home screen. Payments which are due can be viewed in the ‘Amounts Due’ tab on the left of the page. For example, payments under the National Beef Welfare Scheme could be seen there on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is worth noting that advisers do not have access to scheme payment details in 2023.