The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed to Agriland that it received over 25,000 applications from farmers seeking to lease entitlements this year.
Overall, some 33,342 transfer of entitlement requests were submitted to the department by this year’s deadline of May 15.
This figure does not include transfers submitted as a result of Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) amendments up to May 31 or applications received for transfer types to which the closing date does not apply.
A spokesperson for the department said that as of June 19, 33,841 transfer of entitlement applications had been made.
The overall figure marks a drop of over 5,000 when compared to the 39,150 transfer of entitlement applications received by the department in 2023.
Transfer of entitlement application type Applications Inheritance 1,158 Gift 1,377 Merger (forming an unregistered farm partnership) 4 Scission (division of an unregistered farm partnership) 1 Change of Registration 1,260 Change of Legal Entity 292 Lease 25,296 Sale 4,453
BISS entitlements may only be transferred to an active farmer in the same EU member state, except in the case of inheritance or anticipated inheritance (gift).
The data shows that 25,296 applications were made for leasing entitlements, while 4,453 applications related to the sale of entitlements.
It should be noted that leased or rented payment entitlements will revert to the farmer making the transfer at the end of the relevant scheme year.
All entitlements are subject to a two-year usage rule, meaning that any entitlement that remains unused for two consecutive years will revert to the National Reserve.
As 2023 was the first year of the new CAP, usage dates were reset and this rule did not apply.
However, if payment entitlements were not used in 2023 they will revert to National Reserve in 2025 if they are also not used in 2024.
Entitlements
Meanwhile, the department said that over 4,000 transfer of entitlement related telephone queries have been made to its helpdesk so far this year.
There have been in excess of 10,200 email queries to the transfer of entitlement inbox to date, while 770 queries were dealt with through the DAFM automated online facility.
The telephone and email figures do not include direct and follow communication between staff, farmers and advisors.