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Farmers who applied for fencing measures in the third tranche of the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) could have their applications rejected, the Irish Farmers Journal understands.
DAERA officials are currently reviewing EFS applications made in 2019 amid concerns over the level of funding that will go on measures which involve fencing.
“There has been a significant increase in applications for certain options within the scheme, while uptake of some other options has been lower than envisaged,” a statement issued by DAERA this week reads.
Under EFS – wider level, farmers can choose up to four out of 19 measures under the main management options. There are also additional bolt-on measures called non-productive investments.
Figures available for the first tranche of EFS show that across the 1,064 wider level agreements, there were 538 claims for the non-productive investment of stock-proof fencing.
Among the main management options, the most popular measures also involved fencing, either along watercourses or when laying a new hedge.
It is understood that agreements in the second tranche followed a similar pattern and measures relating to fencing were even more popular in third tranche.
SHARING OPTIONS: