61% of farmers fail in EU payment appeals

Only two out of five farmers are successful in appealing decisions by the Department of Agriculture over their eligibility for a range of EU payments. Only 39% of farmers had a positive outcome to their cases last year, with the appeal either being upheld, partially allowed, or the Department of Agriculture revising its decision, according to the Agriculture Appeals Office’s (AAO) latest annual report.

It also shows that 45% of all appeals were rejected in 2018, while 16% were either withdrawn, invalid, or out of time.