The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has told Agriland that it will be sending notifications to around 4,750 farmers arising from satellite farm inspections.
The Area Monitoring System (AMS) is mandatory across all EU member states since January 1, this year, as part of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to monitor compliance with farm scheme criteria.
This year, the department will be using AMS satellite system for the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS); Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC); Protein Aid Scheme (PAS) and Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM).
AMS findings may impact payments for other area-based schemes such as the Eco-Scheme and the Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers (CIS-YF).
DAFM
The first round of AMS notifications will begin issuing to scheme applicants from today (Monday, June 26, 2023).
These notifications relate to the potential presence of artificial surfaces such as buildings, farmyard extensions and farm roadways, in land parcels.
Farmers and their authorised advisor will be notified where the AMS catagorises a land parcel as ‘red’ through agfood.ie.
Where an applicant is signed up for text message alerts, a text will issue to advise them that they have a notification on their BISS account.
Only applicants with “red parcels” will receive a notification, the department said.
Farmers will be asked to respond within two weeks of the notification being received.
Applicants with an AMS notification have the option to withdraw, partially withdraw or amend their scheme application up to October 2, 2023, without incurring a penalty.
“DAFM’s advice to farmers is to engage with the department either themselves through Agfood or through their advisor if in receipt of an AMS notification of a potential error.
“DAFM intends to hold a number of farmer clinics around the country from the middle of August to help farmers who receive AMS notifications. These clinics will be advertised well in advance,” a department spokesperson told Agriland.
“Further notifications from DAFM will issue to applicants in mid-August and mid-September with a deadline for reply of October 2, 2023.
“These notifications will be for potential differences in crop categories, ineligible land uses and further potential artificial surfaces,” they added.
The numbers of farmers to be notified for potential differences in crop categories, ineligible land uses, and further potential artificial surfaces will not be known until later in the year.
As previously reported by Agriland, in March, the department notified just over 8,000 farmers of potential artificial surface issues based on their 2022 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) applications.
This was to help farmers and their advisors ahead of submitting their BISS application.