Half of Kerry farmers over-claim for payments

High-resolution satellites have detected that half of Co Kerry’s 8,000 farmers are claiming EU farm payments for agricultural land which is not suitable for farming.

Farmers are required to exclude from their annual payment application all ineligible features, such as buildings, farmyards, scrub, roadways, forests, and lakes.

The Government has this year been able to use the latest crystal-clear satellite technology to take thousands of images of farmers’ land to check how much of the land is eligible for payments.