Farmers claiming the maximum payment on 30ha under the Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS) will this week receive a top-up or supplementary payment of €59.40.

Participants in the Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers (CISYF) will receive a supplementary payment of €17/ha for each eligible hectare up to a maximum of 50ha under the scheme or maximum payment of €850.

The payments, announced this week by Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, are worth €9m overall, with €5.5m paid under CRISS and €3.5m under the CISYF.

This is on top of approximately €116m previously paid to 120,000 applicants under CRISS and approximately €33m paid to 6,200 farmers under CISYF.

The Department explained the supplementary payments are due to an increase in the payment rate per hectare for each scheme.

Essentially, the revised rates have been formulated to ensure that farmers receive the maximum amount of money possible under the CRISS and CISYF, and that the Department meets its spending targets under the new CAP Strategic Plan.

CRISS payments

As touched on above, CRISS or frontloading as it is often referred to as, was introduced in 2023 and according to the Department was designed “to redistribute CAP funds from larger farms to medium and smaller sized farms”.

It was funded by deducting 10% of the Basic payment Scheme fund, with some farmers with high value entitlements being net beneficiaries, a large percentage seeing no real change and farmers with lower value entitlements benefitting.

It is paid to all active farmers on their first 30ha, and applicants must hold at least one BISS payment entitlement or part thereof to receive payment under CRISS. The rate of payment for the 2023 scheme year has increased as a result from €42.67 to €44.65 per hectare (maximum payment of €59.40).

CISYF top-up

The CISYF is a payment made to farmers under the age of 40 who are educated in agriculture to “help them succeed in farming”. It can be paid for up to five years, with the payment rate increasing significantly under the new CAP Strategic Plan.

The rate of payment is increasing from €152.05 to €169.06 per hectare, meaning a young farmer drawing down the maximum support on 50ha will receive €850 as part of the supplementary payment.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said; “I appreciate the amount per farmer may be small in some cases, particularly in relation to CRISS, but it’s important that we ensure the maximum amount of funds are distributed.

“Ensuring that young farmers are supported is critically important and this extra funding, combined with the original payments that farmers received, will help support their farming business.”

Farmers wishing to contact the department regarding their CRISS or CISYF payment, can ring the Direct Payments Helpline at 057-8674422. Farmers can also submit any queries they may have online via agfood.ie, where a detailed breakdown of payments can also be accessed through the Financial Self-Services tab.

Farm advisory system advisors approved to act on a farmer’s behalf do not have access to client payment data as yet, with many contacting the Irish Farmers Journal to highlight this factor and avoid unnecessary calls to check payments.