Vital to fill out your SPS form on time
That’s why the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) form is the single most important document you will fill out this year.
This year, there are slight changes to the application form and also to the terms and conditions.
The online application system was opened to farmers and their advisers from Feb 11.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) received more than 60 applications on the first day.
All farmers should have received maps, and the paper forms should be with farmers by the end of March.
The closing date is May 15, 2013; there cannot be any extension to this date.
You do not have to wait until you receive a paper form to make an application, because the paper forms received in the post are a copy of the information on the online SPS system.
This year, if you are sending a paper form, it must arrive in Portlaoise by May 15. Applications will not be accepted at local DAFM offices.
An acknowledgment will be sent by text message (if the DAFM has your mobile number), or letter if there is no mobile number on your file. It is planned to have all acknowledgements sent by Jun 1, 2013.
If you normally get help filling the form at your local Teagasc office, it is important that you make contact soon with the office.
There have been some changes in the advisory staff over the last year, and it may be the case that you have a new adviser.
For security reasons, you will have signed a form that allowed your original adviser to deal with your application. It may now be necessary for you to sign a new form to authorise Teagasc to complete the application.
If you receive this authorisation form from Teagasc, it is important that you complete it, and return it to the local Teagasc office, as it will take a little time for the form to be processed, before your adviser can get access to your online information.
General information on 2013 scheme
The basic requirements of the 2013 SPS are similar to other years. You still need one eligible hectare to claim one entitlement.
You must declare all the land that you are farming.
The 2013 SPS application also covers 14 other schemes, such as the Grassland Sheep Scheme, Beef Technology Adoption Programme, the new Sheep Technology Adoption Programme.
Modulation for 2013 will be 10% on payments over €5,000; this is the same as in 2012.
An additional 4% of modulation is applied to payments in excess of €300,000.
An EU Commission proposal has also emerged now to reduce direct payments for claims made in 2013 by 4.98%.
This cut was triggered when EU heads of state agreed on the new EU budget for 2014-20, which is €800m less than the Commission had planned for.
To claim the direct payment under the 2013 SPS, all of the hectares of land declared by you to support your claim (owned, rented-in and leased-in) must be subject to an agricultural activity by you for a period:
* From the beginning of the year until after May 31, 2013 or
* For a period from before May 31, 2013, to Dec 31, 2013.
Land that is declared by an applicant on the basis that it is available to him or her for the one day, May 31 only, on foot of an agreement with another party, will not be eligible for payment.
For Disadvantaged Area Payment (DAS) you must have the land for the entire year, or under a normal conacre agreement.
If you are an AEOS participant, you must outline on the back of the form which parcels are participating in the AEOS scheme, by placing a tick in a box.
Any parcel with either a linear- or area-based measure must have the relevant box ticked.
There is a question on the form this year relating to the ‘Farm Hub’.
The Department of Agriculture would like to know which plot is considered the best place for an inspector to meet the farmer.
The farmyard I suppose would generally be considered the ‘hub’.
If you do not have a farmyard, it is suggested to pick the plot nearest to the dwelling, and put a note to this effect on the form.
Please remember that this may have implications for your DAS application also.
On the online system, you must pick a plot — the system will not allow you to submit the form until you do so.
Land without a parcel number
If you wish to declare a land parcel that does not have an existing land parcel identification number, or has not been claimed for several years, you will be required in due course to submit evidence (Land Registry
Folio, and/or lease/rental agreement) which confirms you are entitled to use the parcel in question.
Maps
You should have received new maps showing the land parcels declared in the 2012 application.
It is vital to review these maps.
If there is an ineligible area included in the parcel that has not already been ‘red lined’, then you must submit an amended map to take this out. This may be the site of a house or a farm building or roadway.
There may be red lines delineating these structures on the maps you will receive. These red line areas need to be checked and maps adjusted as necessary.
This year, there will be three ways to submit a map.
* By post.
* Uploading an electronic PDF file (map) on the SPS online system.
* On the Department’s SPS online mapping system.
The SPS online mapping system the Department of Agriculture use for the processing of SFP applications has been upgraded this year. Extra controls enable the user to edit a plot after it is drawn on the system.
This new system speeded up the processing of map digitisation significantly last year, so where there are map changes, it is advisable to complete this process online.
