In a consultation on future agricultural policy released at the end of 2021, DAERA set out plans to change land eligibility rules in NI, with all land to become eligible to claim payments, apart from hard features such as lanes or yards. The change, now set to apply from 2026, potentially increases the eligible land area in NI by 4% or approximately 40,000ha.

It is a complete U-turn from the late 2000s, when the Department faced a series of fines from the EU for effectively allowing farmers to claim on land covered in dense rush, scrub, etc. Millions was spent on new mapping systems and enforcing land eligibility rules.

That inadvertently led to a situation where farmers cut back hedges and cleared scrub to stay on the right side of EU law, often to the detriment of nature –– it is crazy this all played out just over 15 years ago.

Consequences

Allowing all land to be eligible for payments in the future does take away some of the incentive to over-trim hedges and keep on top of scrub.

But there could also be unintended consequences, particularly around the risk of land abandonment in marginal areas. If all land is eligible, why go to the bother of keeping livestock on areas that might not even be able to provide a maintenance diet.

However, abandonment is bad for the environment and as seen earlier this year, under-grazing significantly increases the risk of wildfires across important habitats.

Perhaps then there might be some subtle changes made. To that end, it is worth noting a DAERA document on future farm policy which states that all eligible land will have to be “under a farmer’s control” and “used for agricultural activity on a significant and consistent basis during the year”.

What that latter statement actually looks like in practice is not yet known.

Much more detail will be required, especially before farmers might try to buy entitlements for newly eligible land in 2026.