The Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir MLA, has announced payments totalling £9.4 million to Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) participants have commenced.
It means the total amount paid out under the scheme has hit £66 million.
Minister Muir said that he is “delighted to say that 93% of claims for the 2023 EFS payments were made yesterday (Monday, April 15). The remaining claims will be processed and paid as soon as possible”.
According to the minister, the additional £9 million brings the total amount paid through EFS since 2018 to support biodiversity, water quality and climate mitigation to £66 million.
“As a result of this scheme, over 58,000ha of key priority habitats are favourably managed, and over the last six years, 1000km of hedges have been planted or enhanced, 2,700km of waterways protected and half a million trees planted,” he said.
The minister said that he is “determined to support our farmers and the wider agriculture industry”.
He added that “this scheme is a great example of how we can work together to help each other deliver and implement a range of environmental measures and sustainable farming practices to improve biodiversity, water quality and respond to climate change”.
EFS participants
In addition, EFS claims for 2024 can now be submitted. Claims are submitted using the DAERA Single Application and Maps Service, which opened on April 9 for most agreement holders.
Some businesses will need to wait until April 29 to submit a claim, as their agreements are being updated after they made a claim reduction, or after an inspection.
EFS participants must submit a claim each year on their single application. Capital items such as fencing must be completed and claimed for in year one, and the amount maintained must be also claimed in years two to five.
Participants are encouraged to complete work as soon as possible as extensions cannot be granted for poor weather.
Online training is now available for EFS Agreement Holders whose agreements started on January 1 this year (2024).
The training is compulsory and must be completed by November 30, 2024. Information on how to complete online training is available here.
Those submitting a year one claim are reminded that a compulsory Claim Confirmation will be required in December this year.
This allows EFS agreement holders to make reductions to the amount claimed on the single application where necessary, or to confirm that all the work claimed for in the spring has been completed.
As EFS is a five-year agreement, work claimed and paid on must remain available for inspection at any time during this period.
Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the scheme may lead to penalties and recovery of any payments made.