Agricultural appeals: What was appealed...and what was disallowed?

The 2020 Annual Report of the Agricultural Appeals office noted that some 760 appeals were received last year – but what did these appeals focus on, what were the outcomes and where did the appeals take place?

According to the report, which was published by the office this week, the highest number of appeals were received from Cork (69 appeals) and Galway (66 appeals) in 2020.

Agricultural appeals – county breakdown

Meanwhile, the lowest number of appeals was recorded in Co. Carlow, with just six appeals made last year there. Counties Louth and Dublin rounded off the three counties with the lowest appeals, with seven and eight appeals recorded respectively.

Turning next to what was appealed, a wide variety of agricultural schemes were the subject of appeals last year.

Some 15 schemes were listed where more than 10 appeals were received in 2020. These included:

Green Low-carbon Agri-environment Scheme (GLAS) – 132 appeals;
Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) – 115 appeals;
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) – 91 appeals;
Beef Emergency Aid Measure (BEAM) – 75 appeals;
Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme (BEEP) – 62 appeals;
Beef Finisher Payment (BFP) – 42 appeals;
Young Farmer Scheme (YFS) – 36 appeals;
Sheep Welfare Scheme (SWS) – 27 appeals;
Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) II Young Farmers Capital Investment Scheme – 26 appeals;
BPS – Admin – Nitrates – 25 appeals;
Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) – 20 appeals;
Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) – 19 appeals;
BPS/ANC cross compliance – 14 appeals;
TAMS II Animal Welfare, Safety and Nutrient – 13 appeals;
TAMS II Dairy Equipment Scheme – 12 appeals.

Of these, GLAS accounted for approximately 17% of appeals received last year, while ANC accounted for about 15%.

Outcome of appeals in 2020

Looking next at the outcome of all appeals closed in 2020 – including both appeals received in 2020 and those received in previous years – saw 51% (amounting to some 183 cases) disallowed.

Meanwhile, 39% – 139 cases – were allowed, partially allowed or revised by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Finally 10% (36 cases) were withdrawn or invalid.

The office provided a chart providing a further breakdown of cases.

Providing commentary on the outcome of cases, the Office of Agricultural Appeals noted that 60 cases were revised by the department in favour of the appellant after submission of an appeal in 2020, adding:

“The reasons for such revisions in 2020 concerned mainly the submission of additional information not previously made known to the department and/or queries raised by this office once the appeal was submitted to the Agriculture Appeals Office.”

The highest categories of schemes for which decisions were revised by the department concerned appeals against GLAS – accounting for 15 appeals – and BPS decisions, which accounted for a further 10.

Meanwhile, the scheme with the highest number of appeals that were included in the category allowed (36) and partially allowed (43) was the Basic Payment Scheme – with all other schemes involving allowed and partially allowed cases in single-digit figures.

The scheme with the highest number of appeals disallowed by Appeals Officers was the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) Scheme, accounting for 23% of all disallowed appeals.