The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has dispatched communiques to farmers outlining aspects of Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan that may impact their payments.
One notable feature is that an ‘active farmers’ check will take place each year from 2023. This is to ensure that the scheme recipient is the person who is farming the land.
The DAFM will also refer to databases such as the Animal Identification Movement (AIM) system and the sheep and goat census. When farmers satisfy the minimum stocking level – 0.15 livestock units (LU) per hectare – they will be viewed as active.
Copies of receipts of seed, fertiliser, and plant-protection products will be applicable for tillage farmers.
Those who don’t have livestock or crops will be required to indicate how they actively farm, for example, if they sell hay or silage or top fields.
The DAFM will notify farmers who may be at risk of failing the ‘active farmer’ check in the first half of the year. It may also request additional information from some farmers who have to show how they are engaging in an agricultural activity on specific parcels of land.
Checks may also be done where claimed-for land parcels are a long distance away from the farmer’s own farm.
LSL News.