THE Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has announced that a record 97 per cent of farmers in the north have received a full or balance CAP payment in December 2017.
The payments, totalling £95million, were issued to 23,395 farm businesses. Since the completion of advance payments in October, the department has maintained its drive to maximise payment performance. A total of £277million in CAP payments has been issued in 2017, an increase of £27million on 2016 payments.
The record number of payments builds on the achievements of last year (96 per cent) and has been made possible due to the significant increase in the number of farmers submitting their Single Application online, 99 per cent in 2017.
The number of businesses subject to a land inspection and which received a December payment has increased from 959 in 2016 to 1,471 in 2017.
The department has made a particular effort to issue payments to businesses affected by the flooding of 22/23 August 2017, with 98% of the affected businesses receiving payment in December.
