The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has said that the use of satellite farm inspections for scheme compliance will be expanded in 2024.
As part of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Area Monitoring System (AMS) is mandatory across all EU member states to monitor compliance with farm scheme criteria.
It uses satellite data, gathered automatically every five days, to observe and assess agricultural activities and practices.
The AMS also uses photographs containing GPS locations produced using the AgriSnap, developed by DAFM, to verify declared crops.
Satellite inspections
The phased introduction of the AMS in Ireland began in 2021 with checks for the Protein Aid Scheme.
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).
DAFM previously stated that introducing this AMS approach offers “many significant benefits for farmers”.
These include a reduction in the number of on-farm inspections and the introduction of warning alerts to farmers which “help to minimise the occurrence of non-compliances”.
The department said that such alerts will “facilitate farmers to implement appropriate changes at farm level to ensure continue compliance with scheme requirements and avoid penalties”.
A spokesperson for DAFM told Agriland that for the remainder of this year the results of the AMS will “continue to be used to determine if area-based eligibility conditions are fulfilled for applicants of the BISS, ANC, SIM and Protein Aid schemes”.
“All area-based interventions with eligibility conditions which can be monitored with Copernicus Sentinel Satellite data will be subject to the AMS in 2024,” they added.
DAFM
As previously reported by Agriland, over 9,300 farmers have received notifications as a result of satellite farm inspections this year.
In the most recent round of notifications in October, 107 herdowners were contacted in relation to the SIM or Protein Aid Scheme.
96% of applicants, or their advisor, responded to AMS notifications in 2023, but DAFM noted that only 38% of responses included an AgriSnap photo.
“There is no penalty for non-response to an AMS notification however scheme payments may be delayed.
“Where the AMS determines that a land parcel(s) has not met the area-based eligibility conditions of Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS), Area of Natural Constraint (ANC), SIM or Protein Aid Scheme, payments may be reduced, and penalties may apply,” the DAFM spokesperson added.