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More than 10 times as many farmers appealed Department of Agriculture decisions regarding their payments or participation in the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) in 2021 than did so the year previous.
Some 238 appeals were received by the Agriculture Appeals Office for BDGP, representing 29% of all scheme appeals received by the Department of Agriculture. The corresponding figure for 2020 was only 19.
Last year also saw over 50% more appeals made by farmers regarding the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in comparison with the year previous at 143 appeals.
Of the BDGP cases closed, 36 were revised by the Department, nine were allowed or partially allowed and 34 were thrown out by the appeals office.
The number of Green Low-Carbon Agri-Environmental Scheme (GLAS) appeals received by the office dropped by almost 40% last year, while Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) appeals were down by over one third.
Only 221 appeals across all schemes were closed in 2021, with most of these carried over from 2020.
Cattle tags missing in ‘exceptional’ circumstances
One appeal received by the independent office last year regarded a farmer who had not maintained complete cattle identification records.
The farmer was found to have no passports available for 10 cattle, nine cattle which were registered to the herd but not on the farm, not have maintained the herd book for over 18 months and eight calves not registered within the obligatory 27-day timeframe.
The Department had decided to penalise the farmer 5% of his BPS, but this decision was overturned after the appeals office was satisfied from medical evidence provided that the farmer suffered long-term and debilitating illness and that the circumstances were exceptional.
The sanction was overruled under force majeure.
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