Over 26,000 GLAS applications submitted before deadline

Over 26,000 GLAS applications were formally submitted to the the Department of Agriculture before the deadline of May 26.

Last week the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, took the decision to extend the deadline for submission of GLAS applications for a second time.

The decision came in the wake of only half of the anticipated final number of GLAS applications being submitted on the Department of Agriculture’s online system less than a week before the initial closing date.

The final total of submitted application is still shy of the 30,000 applicants the Minister hoped to approve at the outset of the scheme.

However, in recent weeks the Minister did concede that on the basis of progress to date, he would estimate in the region of 25,000 GLAS applications will be submitted before the closing date.

Looking at the total number of applications submitted more closely shows that some 37% of applications were farmers in both Tier 1 and 3 categories with the final 25% of applicants qualifying for Tier 2 status.

For those who can’t get their application in for the first tranche, the Minister said the Department is planning to reopen GLAS again for submissions in September.

He said it is anticipated GLAS contracts will commence for those in the first tranche from October 1 with an estimated expenditure of €20m this year.

“Its no big deal if you don’t meet the GLAS deadline,” he said recently.

According to the Minister, farmers in the second tranche will formally be in GLAS for January 1.

By next year the Minister said there will be about 35,000 farmers in GLAS.