The Department of Agriculture’s Area Monitoring System (AMS), or what has been termed by some as the ‘eye in the sky’, is not a new feature, but it has attracted closer attention in recent years as its use has been expanded for checking compliance in area-based schemes. Under the current CAP, the AMS is mandatory across all EU member states and farmers sign up to its use when they submit their Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) application.
The AMS will be used in 2025 to ensure that the eligibility conditions of all area-based schemes have been met. The Department defines AMS as the “regular and systematic observation, tracking and assessment of agricultural activities and practices on agricultural areas by Copernicus Sentinel Satellite data or other data with at least equivalent value”.
The system will be complemented with follow-up checks on the ground by an inspector, if required, to provide clarification. This may include an inspector capturing geotagged photographs to show what is present on the ground at that particular moment in time. The Department explains that it may also send a notification to applicants in relevant area based schemes asking to submit geotagged photographs using their AgriSnap™.
The Department explains that AMS works by interpreting Sentinel satellite imagery to provide decisions on agricultural activity on all declared land parcels. There are 1.3m Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) parcels in Ireland.
Parcels monitored by AMS will have colour-coded results; green, yellow or red.
Parcels flagged by AMS as green and yellow parcels will allow payments as these parcels give a degree of confidence that the land detail in the farmer’s application has been verified by AMS. Parcels in error will result in a red AMS status.
This may be due to:
Presence of artificial surfaces such as a house, farm roadway or farm building. Presence of ineligible land use eg, ineligible crop type for the scheme. Change in the category of agricultural area whether it is arable land, permanent crop or permanent grassland, eg spring barley declared on application, but a different crop usage was identified by AMS. No Evidence of agricultural activity – indicating that production of agricultural products, such as livestock or growing crops or maintenance of the agricultural area was not evident. No Evidence of ACRES actions, eg for winter bird food indicating that the establishment of a winter bird food crop has not been detected by the AMS. The system is being used for seven ACRES actions in 2025 which is detailed on pages eight and nine.
AMS notifications will issue to applicants from June 2025. Response dates to AMS notification will be included in each AMS notification. The first series of AMS notifications will focus on the presence of potential artificial surfaces. These will issue from 24 June with a response deadline within 14 days of notification
The second series of notifications will issue to scheme applicants around the middle of July and this round of notifications will focus on potential non-compliance detected for incorrect crops, potential ineligible areas and no evidence of agricultural activity.
The third and final round of notifications is planned to issue in mid-August and again this will notify applicants of potential non-compliance detected for incorrect crops, potential ineligible areas, no evidence of agricultural activity and no evidence of ACRES actions. The timeline for receipt of responses will be early September.
Sentinel satellites collect images every five days over Ireland.
There are seven missions of satellites and the AMS in every member state will utilise Sentinel 1 and 2. Sentinel 1 consists of two polar-orbiting radar satellites launched in 2014 and 2016.
These satellites send out a microwave signal to the earth and measure the signal that bounces back.
The Irish AMS will be reliant mainly on Sentinel 1, as it is not impaired by the presence of physical clouds.
The working mechanism of Sentinel 2 measures the visible and infrared light and captures more images but can be impaired by cloud cover.
The pixel or resolution of the images captured is coarse, but this is compensated for by the high frequency at which images are captured.
Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 collect information every five days.
However, as mentioned above the quality of information obtained from Sentinel 2 is limited by cloud cover, so while information is collected every five days, at times this information is not utilisable.
A significant number of ineligible features have been captured by AMS in 2023 and 2024 but new features identified could for examples include bales stacked in the corner of a field in 2025.
The Department, as Competent Authority, is obliged to maintain and update the LPIS of 1.3m parcels. It outlines that “in addition to AMS, a Member State is obliged to review the eligibility status of all parcels on the LPIS as and when new ortho-photos become available, and this may involve ground verification checks”.
It is obliged to implement “recovery of undue payments - “it refers to a process of examining land parcels in previous years to determine whether ineligible features/ areas identified in a current scheme year (by AMS/ground inspection/imagery review) are present in previous years”.
Where the system establishes that such ineligible features/areas existed in previous years, the Department states that there is a requirement to reduce the area and apply the relevant financial reduction and/or penalty to the herd owner.
It highlights that changes to your land that may occur as a result of the above may also have an effect on the number of entitlements held by you.
Many of the existing ineligible features such as old buildings have already been captured by CMS.
Department of Agriculture Q and A on AMS
What does an AMS notification mean when it is issued?
When a red parcel is identified, a notification will be issued to the applicant on their agfood.ie online account. This provides the applicant with an opportunity to rectify the issue within a specific timeframe. Failure to respond may result in a delay or reduced payments in any area-based scheme in 2025.
How will farmers be notified of AMS notifications?
Where a red parcel is identified, the applicant will be notified on the agfood.ie online system. Applicants and advisers should check the correspondence section of the agfood.ie online account. Where an applicant is signed up for text message alerts, a text will issue to advise them that they have a notification on their agfood.ie account.
Where an applicant has applied online through a FAS approved adviser, the adviser will be notified through their agfood.ie account in respect of any of his/her clients where a red parcel has been identified. Applicants who have applied through an adviser will also get a text message alert, where they are signed up for this service.
Will all farmers get an AMS notification?
No. An action is only required of farmers/advisers where a potential issue is identified, ie AMS has identified a red parcel. If a farmer’s parcel(s) are deemed to be green and/or yellow throughout the AMS monitoring process, they will not receive any AMS notifications.
What should I do if I get an AMS notification?
An AMS notification can only be responded to once, the response cannot be changed once submitted.
When an AMS notification/text message alert is received, the applicant should:
Log into your agfood.ie account to read the notification. There will be a clear indication of notification in the centre of the BISS home screen. Access to the AMS screen is available through the agfood.ie account. Access to view the map associated to the parcel is available through the view map icon. Applicants who have applied through a FAS approved adviser, should contact their adviser in relation to responding to the AMS Notification Applicants may accept or reject an AMS finding. Applicants have the option to withdraw a parcel from their aid application in response to an AMS notification also. Full details are provided at gov.ie – Area Monitoring System (AMS). The Departments AgriSnap™ app must be used to submit geotagged photographs requested for AMS.
The Department of Agriculture’s Area Monitoring System (AMS), or what has been termed by some as the ‘eye in the sky’, is not a new feature, but it has attracted closer attention in recent years as its use has been expanded for checking compliance in area-based schemes. Under the current CAP, the AMS is mandatory across all EU member states and farmers sign up to its use when they submit their Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) application.
The AMS will be used in 2025 to ensure that the eligibility conditions of all area-based schemes have been met. The Department defines AMS as the “regular and systematic observation, tracking and assessment of agricultural activities and practices on agricultural areas by Copernicus Sentinel Satellite data or other data with at least equivalent value”.
The system will be complemented with follow-up checks on the ground by an inspector, if required, to provide clarification. This may include an inspector capturing geotagged photographs to show what is present on the ground at that particular moment in time. The Department explains that it may also send a notification to applicants in relevant area based schemes asking to submit geotagged photographs using their AgriSnap™.
The Department explains that AMS works by interpreting Sentinel satellite imagery to provide decisions on agricultural activity on all declared land parcels. There are 1.3m Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) parcels in Ireland.
Parcels monitored by AMS will have colour-coded results; green, yellow or red.
Parcels flagged by AMS as green and yellow parcels will allow payments as these parcels give a degree of confidence that the land detail in the farmer’s application has been verified by AMS. Parcels in error will result in a red AMS status.
This may be due to:
Presence of artificial surfaces such as a house, farm roadway or farm building. Presence of ineligible land use eg, ineligible crop type for the scheme. Change in the category of agricultural area whether it is arable land, permanent crop or permanent grassland, eg spring barley declared on application, but a different crop usage was identified by AMS. No Evidence of agricultural activity – indicating that production of agricultural products, such as livestock or growing crops or maintenance of the agricultural area was not evident. No Evidence of ACRES actions, eg for winter bird food indicating that the establishment of a winter bird food crop has not been detected by the AMS. The system is being used for seven ACRES actions in 2025 which is detailed on pages eight and nine. AMS notifications will issue to applicants from June 2025. Response dates to AMS notification will be included in each AMS notification. The first series of AMS notifications will focus on the presence of potential artificial surfaces. These will issue from 24 June with a response deadline within 14 days of notification
The second series of notifications will issue to scheme applicants around the middle of July and this round of notifications will focus on potential non-compliance detected for incorrect crops, potential ineligible areas and no evidence of agricultural activity.
The third and final round of notifications is planned to issue in mid-August and again this will notify applicants of potential non-compliance detected for incorrect crops, potential ineligible areas, no evidence of agricultural activity and no evidence of ACRES actions. The timeline for receipt of responses will be early September.
Sentinel satellites collect images every five days over Ireland.
There are seven missions of satellites and the AMS in every member state will utilise Sentinel 1 and 2. Sentinel 1 consists of two polar-orbiting radar satellites launched in 2014 and 2016.
These satellites send out a microwave signal to the earth and measure the signal that bounces back.
The Irish AMS will be reliant mainly on Sentinel 1, as it is not impaired by the presence of physical clouds.
The working mechanism of Sentinel 2 measures the visible and infrared light and captures more images but can be impaired by cloud cover.
The pixel or resolution of the images captured is coarse, but this is compensated for by the high frequency at which images are captured.
Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 collect information every five days.
However, as mentioned above the quality of information obtained from Sentinel 2 is limited by cloud cover, so while information is collected every five days, at times this information is not utilisable.
A significant number of ineligible features have been captured by AMS in 2023 and 2024 but new features identified could for examples include bales stacked in the corner of a field in 2025.
The Department, as Competent Authority, is obliged to maintain and update the LPIS of 1.3m parcels. It outlines that “in addition to AMS, a Member State is obliged to review the eligibility status of all parcels on the LPIS as and when new ortho-photos become available, and this may involve ground verification checks”.
It is obliged to implement “recovery of undue payments - “it refers to a process of examining land parcels in previous years to determine whether ineligible features/ areas identified in a current scheme year (by AMS/ground inspection/imagery review) are present in previous years”.
Where the system establishes that such ineligible features/areas existed in previous years, the Department states that there is a requirement to reduce the area and apply the relevant financial reduction and/or penalty to the herd owner.
It highlights that changes to your land that may occur as a result of the above may also have an effect on the number of entitlements held by you.
Many of the existing ineligible features such as old buildings have already been captured by CMS.
Department of Agriculture Q and A on AMS
What does an AMS notification mean when it is issued?
When a red parcel is identified, a notification will be issued to the applicant on their agfood.ie online account. This provides the applicant with an opportunity to rectify the issue within a specific timeframe. Failure to respond may result in a delay or reduced payments in any area-based scheme in 2025.
How will farmers be notified of AMS notifications?
Where a red parcel is identified, the applicant will be notified on the agfood.ie online system. Applicants and advisers should check the correspondence section of the agfood.ie online account. Where an applicant is signed up for text message alerts, a text will issue to advise them that they have a notification on their agfood.ie account.
Where an applicant has applied online through a FAS approved adviser, the adviser will be notified through their agfood.ie account in respect of any of his/her clients where a red parcel has been identified. Applicants who have applied through an adviser will also get a text message alert, where they are signed up for this service.
Will all farmers get an AMS notification?
No. An action is only required of farmers/advisers where a potential issue is identified, ie AMS has identified a red parcel. If a farmer’s parcel(s) are deemed to be green and/or yellow throughout the AMS monitoring process, they will not receive any AMS notifications.
What should I do if I get an AMS notification?
An AMS notification can only be responded to once, the response cannot be changed once submitted.
When an AMS notification/text message alert is received, the applicant should:
Log into your agfood.ie account to read the notification. There will be a clear indication of notification in the centre of the BISS home screen. Access to the AMS screen is available through the agfood.ie account. Access to view the map associated to the parcel is available through the view map icon. Applicants who have applied through a FAS approved adviser, should contact their adviser in relation to responding to the AMS Notification Applicants may accept or reject an AMS finding. Applicants have the option to withdraw a parcel from their aid application in response to an AMS notification also. Full details are provided at gov.ie – Area Monitoring System (AMS). The Departments AgriSnap™ app must be used to submit geotagged photographs requested for AMS.
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