Up to 112,000 to get stocking rate payments
The payments are expected to be worth between €66 and €77 per eligible hectare.
Going to less than 1.5 livestock units per hectare will be worth some money to 112,000 farmers in 2023.
Based on 2021 Basic Payment Scheme figures, that’s how many farmers will be eligible to participate in the Extensive Livestock Production Eco-Scheme option, which requires stocking rate between 0.15 and 1.5 livestock units per hectare.
The scheme will be tempting for farmers with low profitability per hectare. They will get between €66 and €77 per eligible hectare per year if all their eligible land has the required stocking rate for the previous year.
Preliminary estimates using 2018-2019 nitrates data indicate that approximately 65,000 livestock farmers are already stocked below 1.5 livestock units per hectare, and would qualify for the Eco-Scheme Extensive Livestock Production practice by maintaining this level of stocking rate.
If all eligible farmers (87% of the country’s 129,000 farmers) participate, it is estimated the rate would be approximately €66 per eligible hectare. If uptake is lower, for example, with 85% of farmers participating, it is estimated the payment rate would increase to approximately €77 per eligible hectare.
The scheme excludes farmers who do not currently have livestock. It is proposed further administrative and on-the-spot checks will take place as required in the year of Extensive Livestock Production Eco-Scheme participation.
However, the scheme and its details are subject to European Commission approval, as part of Ireland's draft CAP Strategic Plan, which was submitted to the Commission on December 31 last. Stocking rate or farming intensity will be affected by a number of the other Eco-Scheme options.
The Eco-Scheme is voluntary each year for each farmer. It is worth 25% of Ireland’s direct payments, which equates to approximately €297 million per annum.
It corresponds to the previous greening which was 30-44% of the Single and Basic Farm Payment schemes, but most Irish farmers automatically qualified for greening, because they are pasture-based farmers.
In 2023, to hold onto 25% of their direct payment, farmers have to undertake at least one of eight proposed Eco-Scheme agricultural practices. The government’s aim is to ensure the widest possible take-up of the targeted Eco-Scheme actions, thereby ensuring a wide-ranging impact across the entire land area.
If farmers opt for Space for Nature, they must increase the 4% devoted to biodiversity, habitats or landscape features (a basic requirement for direct payments), to at least 7%.
A farmer who commits 10% or more of the holding to “Space for Nature” will qualify for a full Eco-Scheme payment. This is one of only two Eco-Scheme options proposed to suffice on its own for full payment.
The other is six trees or two metres of hedgerow per eligible hectare (doubling up on the three trees or one metre of hedgerow option).
Reducing farming intensity is also the effect of the “Limiting Chemical Nitrogen” option. Arable farmers who opt for this must limit chemical nitrogen to 139.41kg per hectare (10% below the national average).
The reduction for other farmers is based on their previous stocking rate. It is not an available option for organic farmers, because they are already prohibited from spreading chemical fertiliser.
Farmers can apply for the Eco-Scheme at the same time as their application for the Basic Income Support for Sustainability, which is the new CAP version of the Basic Payment Scheme or SFP (the deadline will probably be mid-May, 2023).
Ireland's proposed Eco-Scheme has been designed in accordance with guidance issued by the EU Commission, to encourage farmers to become more environmentally friendly by modifying their management practices, and to maintain environmentally friendly operations and farming systems where they already exist.
With numerous incentives to reduce farming intensity in the new CAP, IFA President Tim Cullinan has warned against reducing Irish farm output while global demand for meat and dairy products is increasing.
Also tending towards less intensive farming and reduced output is the Organic Farming Scheme, which targets increasing the organic farmed area to 7.5% by 2027.
