Entitlement changes for single payment available online
James McDonnell, Teagasc financial-management specialist, asks farmers using Teagasc’s single-payment applications services to contact their advisor early, and keep appointments, so that the job can be done efficiently.
The applications can be completed online. If farmers have registered online, or want to register for the Department of Agriculture’s e-services, they can go to www.agfood.ie.
To claim each entitlement, a farmer must have one eligible hectare. Each entitlement can only be claimed with an ‘eligible hectare’, which includes areas under grass, cereals, maize, proteins, oil seeds, set-aside and beet, etc.
Land under potatoes, or horticultural crops like vegetables or fruit trees and cut foliage, are now eligible to claim entitlements, but land under flowers — daffodils, for example — is not.
For land to be eligible, a number of other conditions also apply:
* The land must be used, and managed, by the applicant.
* There must be independent access for animals and for machinery.
* There must be appropriate fencing for the farming enterprise.
* There must be defined external boundaries, except in the case of commonage.
* If you are farming animals on the land, suitable handling facilities must be available.
* Map acres, as they are generally known and described, are not eligible.
Land planted to grant-aided forestry in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 will be eligible to draw the single farm payment. The consolidation (stacking) of land planted to forestry from 2009 forward is gone. The land planted in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 must have been eligible land, and in receipt of SFP in 2008 (and other conditions apply).
Be careful not to plant 100% of your farm to forestry, as, then, you will not be defined as a farmer, and not eligible to draw SFP. At least 10% of eligible hectares declared in 2008, subject to a minimum of three hectares, must be maintained in an agricultural activity.
The one-day rule of May 31 remains. To claim the direct payment under the 2014 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, 2014, or;
* For a period from before May 31, 2014 to December 31, 2014.
Land declared by an applicant on the basis that it is available to him or her on May 31, only on foot of an agreement with another party, will not be eligible for payment. The person declaring the land on the single-payment application will be held responsible for any non-compliance with the statutory management requirements under cross-compliance, or any failure to maintain the lands declared in good agricultural and environmental condition, for the period January 1 to December 31, 2014. Lands declared must be maintained as agricultural land until December 31, 2014.
Following the CAP Health Check Agreement, all set-aside entitlements were converted to standard entitlements in 2009.
Check all maps. If there is an ineligible area included in the parcel, 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, in excess of 0.1 hectares in size. 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; or on the Department’s SPS online system, which is upgraded this year to make the process easier.
If you wish to declare a land parcel that does not have an existing land parcel identification (LPIS) 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) that confirms you are entitled to use the parcel.
Consolidated entitlements can be traded. For example, they can be sold with or without land, or they can be rented or leased out with one eligible hectare per entitlement. This is because the five-year use rule has been abolished. This situation continues for 2014.
Consolidation will be available, again, in 2014, where land farmed in the reference years is lost through CPO or the expiry of lease and conacre rental agreements.
Where a plot is involved in AEOS (linear or area measure) this year, there is a column on the back of the form to ticked.
Only place a tick beside the relevant plots. This will help speed-up payment of AEOS in 2014.
All entitlements must be claimed over a two-year period, or they will be lost to the national reserve. This rule will not be applied this year.
nFinally, remember to post the form if you are completing it on paper. If applying online, make sure that it is fully submitted before the closing date.
These notes are for guidance purposes only. Read the full terms and conditions for 2014.
