Farmers have until 15 May to apply for the Young Farmer Scheme (YFS) and the National Reserve.

The YFS is a 25% topup to entitlements, based on the national average payment per hectare, which generally works out between €50 and €60/ha.

The National Reserve, which has a pot of €3.5m, provides entitlements at the national average value or a topup on entitlements that are below the national average currently. In 2017, this was €184/ha.

For both the YFS and the National Reserve, farmers are required to have completed their education by 15 May, including all exams and coursework.

If you do not have all of these completed, then there is no point applying for either of the schemes.

In a change to the YFS, a successful applicant who commenced farming from 2014 onwards and who submits his/her first YFS application within five years of commencement of farming can now receive payment under the scheme for five years.