Farmers are on course to receive their payments this September and October.

Last week, EU Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan and Irish Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed both confirmed farmers would receive a 70% advance on their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), formerly the Single Farm Payment, cheque this October. The remaining 30% is expected to be made in the middle of December.

Hogan and Creed also confirmed there would be an 85% advance on payments under Rural Development Programme schemes such as GLAS and AEOS. This advance on the payments under the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC), formerly the Disadvantaged Area Scheme payment, are expected to be made the week of the National Ploughing Championships. The Ploughing takes place from 20 to 22 September in Tullamore.

It is understood there are no hold-ups with regards applications and all aspects of the process are progressing as normal.

This is the first year the Department of Agriculture has carried out preliminary checks on farmers’ BPS applications. The Department notified BPS applicants of any non-compliance in the areas of over-claims, dual claims, and overlaps which arise from these preliminary checks. Farmers then had until 20 June to correct any of these issues without facing a cut to their payment.

Next year will be the final year of paper applications, with all farmers having to make their BPS applications online from 2018.

IFA rural development chair Joe Brady highlighted the vital importance of these schemes in the IFA’s pre-budget submission launch on Tuesday.

Inspections

Land eligibility inspections will continue up to the middle of October while all cross-compliance inspections must be completed by 31 January. However, the Department usually has most cross compliance inspections completed by Christmas.

A farmer’s payment will not be held up by a cross compliance issue but can be held up as a result of a land eligibility anomaly.