The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has reminded farmers in the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) to complete a claim confirmation this December.
Northern Irish farmers in the EFS agreement that started on January 1, 2023, must complete the claim confirmation next month between December 1, 2023, and January 2, 2024.
The EFS claim confirmation service helps new agreement holders to make accurate claims.
Farmers that accepted a Tranche 6 agreement in 2023 and submitted a year 1 claim using the Single Application Service, are required to submit a claim confirmation.
Failure to submit a claim confirmation will result in not being paid, and the farmer’s EFS Tranche 6 agreement being cancelled.
“As a result of farmers submitting claim confirmations last year, the amount of errors in EFS claims reduced,” DAERA said.
New EFS agreement holders are also reminded to complete online training by November 23, 2023.
EFS
The EFS offers participants a five-year agreement to deliver a range of environmental measures and has three levels:
- A ‘Higher Level’, primarily for environmentally designated sites and other priority habitats;
- A ‘Wider Level’ to deliver benefits across the countryside, outside of environmentally designated areas;
- A ‘Group Level’ to support co-operative action by farmers in specific areas such as a river catchment.
DAERA said applications which deliver most environmental benefit for the scheme objectives of restoring, enhancing biodiversity, improving water quality and mitigating against climate change, will receive priority entry into the scheme.
