Payments

From Defra granting emergency permits for bluetongue vaccines to the topic of succession and planning for the future - these are five farming stories not to miss this week on FG

UFU president David Brown said: "We have received many complaints from frustrated members informing us that DAERA's IT system is not working to full capacity. This level of service is completely unacceptable."

The application portal for SFI will be closed between December 27 2023- January 2 2024. Any draft SFI applications that are not submitted before December 31 2023 will be lost and not recoverable when the portal reopens again in the new year

Growers attending a recent open day were advised to do what is right for their farm situation when considering the options available under SFI

Farming Minister Mark Spencer has batted away concerns that the increased Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme payments announced this morning (January 5) are ‘too little, too late’.