Agricultural consultants across NI have seen a surge in the number of farmers enquiring about buying and leasing entitlements for newly eligible areas of land.

Under the new Farm Sustainability Payment (FSP), all areas of land except for the likes of laneways and farmyards are eligible for claiming payment. The rule change has seen the total eligible area across NI increase by almost 5%, although new entitlements have not been issued by DAERA.

It means a farmer must buy or lease entitlements if they want to claim payment on areas of land that were previously ineligible. As a result, there has been an early scramble since the online system for transferring entitlements opened last week.

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“It is a manic market. We have never had as many calls about entitlements,” said Omagh-based auctioneer Roy McCracken.

In general, the increased demand has led to higher prices for entitlement trading when compared to last year, although exact rates depend on entitlement values.

For leasing, higher value entitlements over £400 can be worth more than half their value to lease, but lower value entitlements are generally worth less as a proportion of their value.

“We tend not to work on percentages. It’s more about profitability and what is left for the person who leases them once they have everything paid. We try to leave clients with over £50 per acre of profit,” McCracken said.

Similarly, there is strong demand for buying entitlements, with reports indicating that most entitlements are trading for more than their face value this year.

Again, high value entitlements are worth more to buy in terms of a proportion of their value.

Historic years

Under the new historic years rule, around 2,000 landowners who had no agricultural activity in 2020 and 2021 are not be eligible to claim FSP in 2026 and now have to sell their entitlements.

It has meant there is more buying activity taking place in the market this year as the historic years entitlements cannot be leased out.

However, the historic years rule has not led to a flood of surplus entitlements on the market, as the new land eligibility rules has created more than enough demand.

Uncertainty

Despite the lively market for trading entitlements, there are some threads of uncertainty at play.

One issue is that a budget is still to be agreed by ministers in the NI Executive, so the exact entitlement values for 2026 are not known yet.

The current values displayed on DAERA online services are based on the 2025 scheme year, although the general expectation is that this is unlikely to change much.

Another factor hanging over the buying market is uncertainty around further cuts to entitlement values in future years and how long entitlements will be used as the basis for the FSP scheme.

Some farmers are reluctant to buy entitlements outright in case they fall in value significantly or become obsolete within a few years, so a safer bet is to lease entitlements each year as needed.