Initial details of a proposed new system of farm penalties, which are due to come into effect from 2026, have been outlined to MLAs on Stormont’s agriculture committee.

Jason Foy from DAERA said new Farm Sustainability Standards will effectively replace the long-standing cross-compliance regime, which has been in place since 2005.

“Our rule of thumb has been that a farmer taking reasonable care should have little difficulty meeting the standards,” he said.

The revised system of penalties for farmers who are found in breach of the new rules was described by Foy as “a significant change in approach”.

“The policy seeks to support, enable and help farmers comply with the standards, rather than seeing financial penalty as the first and only response,” he said.

He gave the example of a new “guidance letter and mandatory training course”, which will be rolled out to farmers who breach rules for the first time.

MLAs were told that the new penalty matrix will be “simpler, fairer and more proportionate” than the old cross-compliance system.

In particular, the classification of rule breaches as either negligent or intentional will not be part of new Farm Sustainability Standards.

This issue has led to a large number of appeals and legal challenges over the years, as breaches that are deemed intentional bring harsher penalties worth up to 100% of area payments.

“This matrix that we are proposing is purely about the severity of the breach itself, so we avoid situations where minor breaches suddenly become intentional and attract a much higher penalty,” Foy said.

Severe breaches

However, DAERA can still hand out hefty penalties under the new system, with DUP MLA William Irwin pointing out that the proposals allow for payments to be withheld for two years in certain instances.

“That will be on the basis that a farm business has breached to a very high level on multiple occasions, and this will be reserved for the worst cases of breaches,” Foy responded.

He also confirmed that DAERA will still be able to take farmers to court, on top of handing out penalties to the Farm Sustainability Payment.

“If there are very severe breaches of the standards which is sufficient to warrant prosecution, then that is also a tool open to us,” Foy said.

Longer window for transfers

The window for trading entitlements in NI is to be extended by almost two weeks this year, DAERA has confirmed.

Entitlements for the new Farm Sustainability Payment will be able to be transferred between farms up until the 15 May deadline for submitting Single Applications.

In the past, the window for transferring entitlements closed on 2 May.

Jason Foy from DAERA told MLAs last week that the Ulster Farmers’ Union and the Agricultural Consultants Association are “both fully in favour” of the change.

“It is our intention to launch the Single Application and entitlement transfer service together on Monday 3 March, so farmers do have 10 weeks or so to make transfers online and arrangements can be made through auctioneers significantly in advance of that,” he said.