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The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, T.D., today confirmed that the balancing payments under the 2018 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and Greening have now commenced.
The commencement of the BPS balancing payments now brings the total paid under the 2018 Scheme to date to €1.12bn to 121,000 farmers. In addition, over 90,000 farmers have been paid a total of €217m under the Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) Scheme to date.
The Minister commented that;
“In mid-October my Department began issuing 70% advance payments under the BPS to farmers across the country. This year saw an additional 2,000 farmers receive their advance payments on the 16th of October compared to the same date last year. This is in part due to the successful transition to 100% online applications for the BPS in 2018, reflecting the benefits to farmers the online application process provides. Regular pay runs have been in place since October, and I am happy to confirm that the 30% balancing payments under the BPS have now commenced on schedule.”
The Minister also confirmed that payments under the 2018 National Reserve and the Young Farmers Scheme will also commence alongside payment of the 2018 BPS balancing payment. The Minister commented “since mid-September, my Department has been issuing payments to farmers across a range of schemes, including BPS, ANC, GLAS, Knowledge Transfer and the Sheep Welfare Scheme. Payments under the Beef Data and Genomics Programme are also due to commence shortly. My Department continues to issue these payments at a rate which compares very favourably to the systems in place in other Member States, and these payments provide a significant financial boost for individual farmers and the wider rural economy.”
Regular pay runs will remain in place under the 2018 BPS as further cases are cleared for payment. The Minister urged farmers who have outstanding queries from the Department to respond as soon as possible in order to facilitate payment. The Minister concluded “the timely processing of payments across schemes remains a key priority for my Department, as I am very aware of the importance of such schemes for the farming community.”