The change to payment dates for 2023 for some schemes under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the earliest possible dates for this year, according to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue.
The minister addressed the issue at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) in Co. Mayo yesterday (Thursday, July 6).
In March, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine wrote to farmers confirming new payment dates under the Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) Scheme and the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS), which replaces the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in the new CAP.
The ANC Scheme payments will be pushed back by about a month to October 17 this year, while the BISS payments will be made from October 24, a delay of around two weeks compared to previous years.
Speaking at the INHFA AGM yesterday, the minister effectively ruled out undoing the changes to the 2023 dates, but did say that the issue would be revisited next year, with the potential for a return to the the previously normal dates.
He said: “That’s something we will look at at the start of next year again, in terms of setting out next year’s payment dates. We will reflect on how things this year went.”
The minister told INHFA members that the roll out of the Area Monitoring System (AMS), which is used for checking land eligibility under some schemes (and which has been mandatory across the EU from 2023) requires these payment dates to be pushed back this year in order to allow the proper implementation of AMS.
“There is a change to area monitoring, which now happens before payments are made, where previously there would have been other checks afterwards. So that’s something we have to try and get working well and make sure that is does work well.”
“It’s part of the reason we’ve delayed payments this year, because that is now an earlier part of the process, and therefore has led to an adjustment to dates,” he added.
Minister McConalogue told the AGM that he and the department had worked to find the “best timeframe that could be done”.
He acknowledged that there had been “issues” around communication of the new scheme payment dates to member groups of the Farmers’ Charter.
The controversial changes drew the ire of the farm organisations, who said that they had not been consulted on a change to the dates until after the new timeframe was signed off on.
The minister said: “It is the best timeframe that can be delivered on, and we wanted to make sure that in setting the date, that that can be adhered to so that the majority of farmers are paid at that time.
“It’s something we will review for next year. This is on a needs must basis unfortunately. The best we can do is to make sure we adhere to those dates,” he added.