To date, payments to approximately 10,000 farmers enrolled in the Knowledge Transfer (KT) Programme have been paid, according to the Department of Agriculture.

There are 19,000 farmers registered in the programme.

In its latest round of payment updates, the Department said that approximately €7.5m has been paid out for participation in year one of the three-year programme.

Payments will continue on a rolling basis over the coming weeks.

Sheep farmer participants were the first to receive payment from the scheme, with payments beginning on 31 October.

For beef farmers payments were to roll from 3 November and for dairy farmers from 10 November.

The remaining sectors in the scheme – tillage, poultry and equine – are to begin to issue from 17 November.

There are approximately 1,100 KT groups under the programme, which is worth €100m to farmers over the three years of its duration.

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KT payments: 10,000 farmers paid to date

There are 19,000 farmers registered in the programme, which is worth €100m to farmers over the three years of its duration.