The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has said that over 12,000 applications have been received so far for the 2020 Basic Payments Scheme (BPS).
The department confirmed to AgriLand that, as of midnight last night, Wednesday, March 11, 12,402 applications have been received under the scheme in the three weeks it has been open for applications.
The application process for the 2020 BPS and the Greening Scheme opened on February 21, and is due to close on Friday, May 15.
All elements of the direct payments schemes (BPS; Greening; Young Farmers Scheme; National Reserve; Transfer of Entitlements; and the Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme) are now online.
This is the third year in which the BPS application system is fully on-line; this resulted from a change in the relevant EU regulations, which came into effect back in 2018.
This online approach, says the department, means that it can process all applications under these schemes “as efficiently as possible”.
BEEP suckler scheme
In other scheme-related news, the application process for the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – BEEP (Sucklers) – for 2020 opens today, Thursday, March 12, the department announced yesterday.
BEEP (Sucklers) – which has a funding provision of €35 million in 2020 – will target the weaning efficiency of suckler cows and calves, measuring the liveweight of the calf at weaning as a percentage of the cow’s liveweight.
Participants in the programme will also be encouraged to implement a number of optional health and welfare measures, according to the department.