The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has contacted almost 2,500 farmers in relation to issues arising from satellite farm inspections.
The Area Monitoring System (AMS) is mandatory across all EU member states as part of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to monitor compliance with farm scheme criteria.
This year, the system is being used to monitor the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS); Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC); Protein Aid Scheme (PAS); and Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM).
These notifications related to potential identification of an incorrect crop declared on a land parcel or the potential presence of multiple crops, that is two or more crops within the land parcel where only one was declared.
They also relate to the presence of an ineligible feature, such as a house, farm roadway or farm building which was not delineated from the parcel in the BISS application.
DAFM
DAFM confirmed to Agriland that it notified 2,471 herdowners of an AMS notification on Monday (August 14).
Cork was the county with the highest number of notifications at 279, followed by Wexford on 232 and Galway with 215.
The county with the lowest number of notifications was Leitrim with four.
The following table provides a breakdown of the notifications, based on herd number location:
County Notifications Carlow 104 Cavan 24 Clare 39 Cork 279 Donegal 82 Dublin 72 Galway 215 Kerry 103 Kildare 120 Kilkenny 140 Laois 123 Leitrim 4 Limerick 40 Longford 21 Louth 120 Mayo 63 Meath 153 Monaghan 38 Offaly 108 Roscommon 46 Sligo 10 Tipperary 163 Waterford 51 Westmeath 69 Wexford 232 Wicklow 52 Total 2,741
Farmers or their advisors are being asked to review the land parcel(s) that are highlighted in their notification.
A response must be submitted to the DAFM on or before October 2, 2023.
A guide on how to respond to an AMS notifications is available on the DAFM website.
The department is also hosting an online information webinar on AMS on Tuesday, August 22 at 7:30p.m.
In June, around 4,750 farmers received notifications from DAFM arising from satellite farm inspections.
These notifications related to the potential presence of artificial surfaces such as buildings, farmyard extensions and farm roadways, on land parcels.