Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme maximum payment will rise to €4,240 per farm in 2019

The maximum annual payment in the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme in 2019 for the farmers with the poorest land will increase to €4,240, pending EU permission for a formal amendment to the Rural Development Programme which is now under way, to ensure that the Scheme can open for application early in 2019.

The revised maximum payment compares with €3,400 in 2017, and has been made possible by boosting the scheme with about €50m of additional government funding in the last two budgets. Of the additional €23m added for 2019, about €12m will go to lands newly eligible in 2019, after the the EU-required re-designation of land based on new bio-physical criteria.

About €1m is allocated to phasing out payments in respect of lands no longer eligible from 2019 due to the re-designation.

The remaining €10m or so will be allocated as increased payment rates across all categories of land, with higher increases for lands with the highest level of constraint.

The rate for Category 1 land (previously mountain type land) will increase to €148 per hectare for the first 12 hectares, with a rate of €112 for hectares 13 to 34.

The rate for Category 2 land (previously more severe) will increase to €111 per hectare for the first 10 hectares, with €104 for hectares 11 to 30.

The rate for Category 3 land (previously less severe) will increase to €93 per hectare for the first 8 hectares, with €88.25 for hectares 9 to 30.

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed gave details of the revised payments in the Dáil last week, replying to a question from Galway Fianna Fail TD Éamon Ó Cuív.