Gildernew Announces £231 Million Paid In Single Farm Payments

Looking ahead to the next payment period, the Minister stated, “Over 90% of claims have been finalised. I am keen that all claims are completed at the earliest possible date and my Department is taking all possible steps to achieve this. But we must also administer the scheme in a way that avoids disallowance. ”This means ensuring the results of inspections are taken into account in deciding payment levels. My objective is to complete 93% of claims by the end of February and 94.5% by the end of March.” Commenting on the claims not yet finalised, the Minister added, “Many farm businesses are extremely rigorous in claiming only on eligible land. However there remains some that make claims that require adjustment following inspection and this is what slows the processing of claims at this stage in the year. I would therefore once again call on all farmers to ensure they know what parts of their fields are ineligible and claim only on eligible land. “The Commission rules require us to carry out administrative and on-farm checks to verify claims and the findings of these must be taken into account before the correct amount due can be calculated. Many of these calculations are highly complex to take account of changes to field boundaries and ineligible areas and in many cases these apply as far back as 2005.” Looking forward to the 2011 scheme year, the Minister said, “I want to help farmers to avoid delays in 2011. It is essential that farmers make sure their maps are accurate and that they claim only on eligible land. It is not in our interest to spend time adjusting claims nor is it in farmers interests to have their payments delayed and have penalties applied.” A payment may not be due in all the cases not yet finalized because of ineligibility or the application of penalties under scheme rules. ( The 2010 Single Farm Payment (SFP) is paid using the exchange rate of €1= £0.85995. )]]>