Major changes loom for NI farm payment system

Q&A: DARDNI

Every hectare will attract the same support from the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), instead of the current system – in contrast to farmers south of the border, subject only to convergence rather than full movement to flat rate, according to the Dept of Agriculture and Rural Development of Northern Ireland (DARDNI).

The government will increase in equal annual steps the unit value of BPS entitlements below the regional average by 71.4% of the difference between their initial unit value in 2015 and the Northern Ireland average, by 2021.