Some 80 farmers submitted outstanding nutrient management plans (NMPs) in the past week – twice as many as the previous week – which is a requirement before advance 2017 GLAS payments are made.

However, the Department reported receiving commonage management plans (CMPs) for only 20 farmers.

Officials have blamed missing information such as NMPs and CMPs in 3,000 of the 9,000 cases of farmers not having yet received their 2017 GLAS payments. There are still 490 NMPs and 410 NMPs outstanding.

BPS

The latest payments update from the Department also shows little progress on the core group of around 1,000 farmers who did not receive their 2017 BPS. Only €14,000 has been paid in outstanding BPS payments since the new year.

A range of issues such as over-claims, missing commonage information or herd number and inheritance issue is holding up these payments and the Department previously urged farmers in these situations to answer queries without delay to allow payment.

13% of GLAS farmers waiting on advance payments

GLAS payment backlog clearing slowly

The latest figures from the Department of Agriculture show that outstanding management plans continue to trickle into its offices, allowing the release of 2017 payments.