Payments support €5.67bn output

The release of Single Farm Payment beneficiaries data by the Department of Agriculture has certainly added some flavour into conversations amongst farmers over the past few weeks.

The Department was obliged to issue the data under EU regulations, and in the absence of any further legal challenges, it is likely that this release is going to become an annual event.

There is undoubtedly going to be focus on those farmers in receipt of the highest payments. And, from an outsider’s perspective, the largest payments do seem obscene.