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April 1, 2021 2:09 pm
Payments totalling £16.5 million to participants in the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) have commenced, Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has announced.
The payments for over 60% of EFS Wider and Higher 2020 claims, worth £9.5 million, will appear in farmers’ bank accounts within 10 working days.
The department will continue to release the remaining payments as quickly as possible as claims are checked and validated.
Minister Poots said: “I am pleased to announce that payments totalling £16.5 million will commence this week to farmers participating in the Environmental Farming Scheme.
“This is a £16.5 million investment in helping to further protect and improve our environment, rewarding farmers for work they have undertaken in making a positive contribution to that task.
Two more tranches of EFS confirmed
There will be two more tranches of the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) in NI, Agriculture Minister Gordon Lyons has said.
In response to a written question from West Tyrone MLA Declan McAleer, Minister Lyons said that around 5,000 farmers have participated in EFS over the first four tranches.
“Two further tranches are planned, subject to the necessary approvals,” the minister confirmed.
The previous plan within DAERA was that the fourth tranche of EFS, which opened in 2020, would be the final intake of applications.
Unprecedented bird flu risk in NI
The risk that avian influenza poses to the NI poultry sector is “still the highest it has ever been”, Agriculture Minister Gordon Lyons has said.
February 23, 2021 3:14 pm
Applications for Northern Ireland’s 2021 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and Entitlement Transfer Service will open on March 1, Agriculture Minister Gordon Lyons has announced.
Welcoming the launch, Minister Lyons said: “I am pleased to announce that the 2021 Single Application and Map Service and Entitlement Transfer Service will open on March 1, 2021.
Entitlement transfer applications will be accepted up to May 4, and Single Applications for Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and other schemes such as the Environmental Farming Scheme can be submitted up to May 17 this year without penalty.
Minister Lyons continued: “The farm payments made by my department represent the single largest income for farms in Northern Ireland, and underpin the financial viability of the agricultural industry.
UFU hits out at ‘unsympathetic’ DAERA
DAERA staff have been accused of being “unsympathetic” and “unreasonable” with farmers that have bovine TB outbreaks.
The leadership of the UFU took aim at the department’s approach at an online event for members in Co Derry on Tuesday evening. The example was given of a farmer who had his dairy herd reduce from 70 cows to 18 cows due to a serious TB outbreak.
“That man was treated abysmally by the department staff. He did receive an apology, but it took too long and he received too much heartache over their thoughtlessness and mismanagement,” said UFU deputy president William Irvine.