The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, has today, Wednesday, October 16, announced the commencement of advance payments under the 2019 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) including Greening.

The minister said: “I am happy to confirm that advance payments under the BPS, worth €747 million to 114,500 farmers, have commenced issuing today.

“These payments are a vital support for farmers across the country and contribute greatly to maximising income and cash-flow in the sector.”

The minister continued: “A key priority for my department is to issue payments to the greatest number of farmers possible at the earliest date allowed under EU legislation, subject to the necessary requirements of the schemes being met.

With this in mind, I also secured EU Commission agreement for a higher advance payment of 70% for 2019 rather than 50% as provided for in EU legislation.

The minister also commented that “compared to the advance payments made at this stage last year, an additional 1,500 farmers have received an advance payment in the first run of payments this year”.

“This represents an additional €15 million. In all, some 94% of eligible applicants for the 2019 BPS are receiving their advance payment at the earliest date possible.

“My department continues to work to maximise the efficiency with which these payments are made to farmers and I am very conscious of the importance that such payments have for farmers.

Payments under the 2019 Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) Scheme also continue to issue as cases are cleared for payment.

Concluding, Minister Creed added that “the advance BPS payments and the advance ANC payments taken together mean that some €932 million has now issued to Irish farmers in the last month”.