A farmer had his appeal to the Agriculture Appeal Office approved because the Department of Agriculture gave “insufficient” notice about changes to the terms and conditions in the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Scheme (SCEP).

In March 2023, a farmer had declared his herd would have a scheme reference number of 100, in accordance with the original terms and conditions.

However, in May 2023, the Department amended the conditions, allowing it to change the reference to reflect the number of eligible suckler cows estimated to produce an eligible calf in year one. The Department reduced this farmer’s reference to 63.

The farmer argued that he was not aware of the changes when applying to the scheme and that there were no dates of publication for the conditions on the Department website.

The appeal was ruled in the farmer’s favour as the Department’s information was not consistent between meetings, the original terms and the online application instructions.