Rollout of a key element of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) flagship Sustainable Agriculture Programme will now proceed after the NI Assembly supported regulations enabling the introduction of the new Farm Sustainability Payment.

Farm Sustainability Payment Scheme (Eligibility etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025 will provide DAERA with the legal powers to introduce the Farm Sustainability Payment (FSP) from January 1, 2026.

Thanking Assembly members and the Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for their input, DAERA Minister Andrew Muir said: “The regulations passed by the Assembly are a major and positive development for farming in Northern Ireland supporting a thriving, resilient and environmentally sustainable future for farming with the new Farm Sustainability Payment to now open, as planned, on 2 March 2026.

“This will help deliver the Sustainable Agriculture Programme which contains a suite of packages and is supported from wider dedicated funding of £332.5 million per annum for agriculture, agri-environment, fisheries and rural development."

Farm sustainability

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where earmarking of this funding was secured for this and future years following removal of ringfencing by the UK Government at the end of the last financial year.

DAERA has stated that the phased introduction of proportionate and pragmatic conditionalities associated with the Farm Sustainability Payment will also help enable a wide range of "ground-breaking and positive interventions" such as the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme and the Bovine Genetics Project.

The Bovine Genetics Project is of interest to industry and government due to the benefits of breeding animals with improved health and welfare, enhanced production and efficiency, a lower carbon footprint and lower pollution potential.

New land eligibility rules are also to be introduced which are said to be both simpler and help to better protect the environment, bringing into eligibility areas previously deemed ineligible.

Minimum claim size for the Farm Sustainability Payment remains at 3ha following consultation with the Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee and stakeholders.

The FSP will replace the current Farm Sustainability Transition Payment and aims to balance support with encouraging farm businesses to manage risks while building a more environmentally sustainable, efficient and resilient business.

The introduction of FSP will also result in the rollout of the following changes:

The implementation of the historic years exercise;
The progressive capping of payments;
New land eligibility rules;
New Farm Sustainability Standards to replace cross compliance (subject to legislation);
The introduction of the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme and the Bovine Genetics Project conditionalities.