All payment entitlement values will change in 2023, and farmers must bear this in mind when agreeing leases, according to Francis Morrin of the DAFM’s direct payments division.
Unlike the beginning of the previous CAP period in 2015, there are no new allocations in the regulations and no reference years in the current CAP programme.
Therefore, the number of payment entitlements a farmer possesses will remain unchanged, but the value will be adjusted to match the new funding ceiling, which according to Morrin, is circa €154.50.
Convergence will continue through the new CAP programme, with lower value entitlements to reach a minimum of 85% by 2026 in four “equal steps”.
Payment entitlement values
Speaking as part of the DAFM’s webinar on new CAP schemes 2023-2027 on Monday, March 14th, 2023:
“Each of the steps will be seen in each of the years: 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. Of course, that upwards convergence is paid for or funded for, through the reduction in the value of higher value entitlements.”
“That means that all payment entitlement values will fall into a range from about €125-€285 by 2026; those will be the minimum and maximum values for payment entitlements.”
“This is important because those of you that are considering transfers over the next couple of years will need to know what kind of values there are for payment entitlements, especially those converging upwards or downwards.”
“Those transfers are still possible in largely the same way as transfers by gift, lease, sale and so on, among others. Your advisors and some of you, in particular, will be familiar with them.”
In 2022, farmers received a statement of entitlements and will receive another statement in the coming weeks for the entire duration of the new five-year CAP.
Alternatively, to see the value of your payment entitlements, you can log into your AgFood account or, using the DAFM’s CAP calculator, you can input data from your 2022 statement.
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