‘Transition’ farm support for Northern Ireland to start in 2025
© Adobe Stock Farmers in Northern Ireland will receive a new Farm Sustainability Transition Payment in 2025 to replace the Basic Payment Scheme, with the full Farm Sustainability Payment coming into operation in 2026, the department of agriculture has confirmed.
The new area payment is designed to provide a “safety net” for farmers and will account for the majority of the support budget initially, but will be reduced over time as other, greener policies come into play.
See also: Timeline revealed for farm policy shift in Northern Ireland
Exact payment rates for 2025 have yet to be declared, but as a result of the change, the minimum area for making a claim will rise from 3ha to 5ha.
The new payments will also be subject to progressive capping, starting with a 20% reduction at £60,000.
Conditions
To be eligible, farmers will have to comply with new sustainability standards, participate in the Soil Nutrient Health scheme, and develop a nutrient management plan.
Furthermore, businesses that did not meet the farming activity requirements in the reference period of 2020 and/or 2021 will not be eligible for entitlements for the new payment scheme.
This change will affect landowners who have no livestock or are not growing arable crops, explained Ulster Farmers’ Union president David Brown.
“Many still receive BPS entitlements and trade these each year, while others manage to meet active farming rules by keeping their land in prime agricultural condition or creating revenue from selling grass/grass silage,” he said.
“They will no longer be able to do this under the new payments.”
These businesses will have until the closure of the entitlement trading window in May 2025 to sell their BPS entitlements, otherwise they will cease to have a value.
A Daera spokesman explained that, while these changes reflected policy decisions already taken, actual implementation will require underpinning legislation to be passed in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
“This will be taken forward in the next number of months.”