The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is continuing the phased development and roll-out of its new Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) in 2020.
Confirming the news to AgriLand, a spokesperson for the authority said the LPIS is the department’s land database which underpins payments to farmers under area-based schemes.
Such schemes include: the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS); the Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS); the Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme (ANC); afforestation schemes; and the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).
As part of the roll-out of this process, the new LPIS was introduced in Louth in 2019.
The department spokesperson said:
“The new LPIS will give farmers a more accurate representation of land parcel boundaries, and will be based on the most up-to-date technologies and Ordnance Survey Ireland mapping standards.”
The new system will be applied to (a) all land parcels in the above counties whether the herd-owner is based in one of the above counties or not and (b) to all land parcels declared in other counties by herd-owners based in one of the above counties.
- (a) For a Meath herdowner with land declared in Meath and Dublin, parcels in both counties will be transformed to the new system;
- (b) For a Dublin herdowner with land declared in Dublin and Meath, only parcels declared in Meath will be transformed to the new system.
The department said it is putting in place supports to help farmers to fully understand the process before lodging their 2020 applications online.
Information letters relating to the changeover to the new system are being sent to the relevant herd owners, the authority noted.
A comprehensive communications campaign, including regional public information sessions, will be hosted by the department over the coming months so as to ensure that farmers, agents and farm bodies are fully informed of the changeover to the new system, the spokesperson concluded.