Basic Income Support for Sustainability Scheme for farmers

The Basic Income Support for Sustainability Scheme (BISS) is the main EU support for farmers. It provides income support to farmers for farming sustainably and to ensure farming continues to be viable.

The amount you get is based on the amount of land you farm that qualifies for the scheme.

The Basic Income Support for Sustainability Scheme replaced the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).

To qualify for BISS, you must:

• Have at least one eligible hectare. Each eligible hectare is worth one BISS payment entitlement.
• Have a registered herd number or have applied for a herd number by 15 May 2024
• Be considered an active farmer

What is an active farmer?

An active farmer is a person that manages or farms land. To be considered an active farmer, you must:

• Have a minimum stocking rate of 0.10 livestock units per hectare (the equivalent of at least one ewe per hectare)
• Be involved in other farming activities, for example, producing crops, cutting hay or silage, topping

You do not have to own the land to qualify for BISS, but you must have control over it, for example, by leasing or renting it.

You get payment entitlements based on the amount of land you farm. You claim these entitlements to get financial support.

To qualify, you need to have at least one eligible hectare of land.

Eligible hectares are automatically calculated using the best imagery available and are displayed on the BISS online system. You do not have to manually calculate the number of eligible hectares you have.

What is an eligible hectare?

An eligible hectare is an agricultural area of land, one hectare in size that is used for agricultural activity.

Agricultural areas that qualify as eligible hectares are:

• Arable land, which is land used for crop production
• Permanent crops, which is land that is repeatedly harvested
• Permanent grassland, which is land used to grow grasses, heather or rushes
• Agroforestry, which is land used for agriculture and growing trees
• Paludiculture, which is the use of wet and rewetted peatlands that are close to their natural permanently wet state for different types of wetland agriculture and forestry

These areas must be used for agricultural activity to qualify as eligible hectares. Agricultural activity includes producing agricultural products, such as livestock or growing crops. It can also include maintaining agricultural areas, for example, by cutting hedges or mulching.

What if there are other features on my land?

An eligible hectare should be primarily used for agricultural activity, but it can also include other features and still qualify.

For example, an eligible hectare may also have:

• Hedgerows, hedgerow encroachment or scrub (once the average width of the hedge is less than 7 metres and no individual bulges are more than 12 metres)
• Trees in a line (these should be predominantly deciduous)
• Drains
• Ponds (less than 0.2 hectares)
• Archaeological sites and monuments
• Designated habitats
• Other landscape features, such as stone walls

Your land also qualifies for BISS even if half of it is not used for agricultural activity, but instead is covered with ‘beneficial features’.

What are beneficial features?

A beneficial feature is a feature which has environmental benefit to the land. This can include features which encourage and support:

• Biodiversity
• Habitat retention
• Space for nature
• Carbon sequestration

Beneficial features can make up to 50% of a land parcel without affecting the eligibility of the land for BISS. If they take up more than 50% of the land parcel, the amount of support you get will be reduced.

Beneficial features include:

• Scrub
• Trees
• Woodland
• Rock
• Habitat

Note: Different rules apply to areas in the Burren and the Aran Islands, which are unique karst limestone regions.

What areas of land do not qualify for BISS?

Non-agricultural areas do not qualify for BISS entitlement payments.

Non-agricultural areas include:

• Artificial areas such as roads, paths, buildings, farmyards, quarries
• Waterways such as streams, lakes, and ponds greater than 0.2 hectares
• Sand either from a beach or foreshore
• Areas used mainly as sports fields, golf courses or pitch and putt courses
• Solar panels and wind turbines
• Bog parcels
• Horse lunging or jumping areas, horse gallops based on sand
• Glasshouses or polytunnels with non-earthen solid floors
• Abandoned land, for example, land that has no agricultural activity or is not maintained

If you have non-agricultural areas in land which is otherwise suitable for BISS, they will be deducted from the eligible land.

The amount of financial support you get is based on your payment entitlements.

You get 1 payment entitlement for 1 eligible hectare of land. But, the value of each payment entitlement can vary depending on:

• The payment rates you got on previous direct payment schemes
• Adjustments made each year to move the value of entitlements towards a national average (convergence). See BISS 2024 Terms and Conditions (pdf) for more information.
• Any allocations you received from the National Reserve as a young or new farmer

The average value of a BISS payment entitlement in 2024 is €154.64.

You can check the value of your entitlements on your agfood.ie account.

These entitlements must be used in 2 years. If you do not use your entitlements within this period, you will lose them to the National Reserve.

Gov.ie have more information on BISS entitlements, including how to transfer your payment entitlements to another farmer.

What is convergence?

The BISS scheme is moving to a national average for the value of payment entitlements. This means gradually increasing lower payment entitlements and decreasing higher payment entitlements.

How much can I get?

The maximum amount you can get in one year is €66,000.

The minimum is €100.

You apply for BISS at agfood.ie. You must apply by 15 May 2024.

If you do not have an account, you can set one up on the website.

You can complete the application form in stages. You do not have to do it all at once. You can also apply for other farming schemes and grants with your BISS application.

You can find guides and video tutorials on how to complete the application on gov.ie.

Need help applying?

The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine is holding in-person clinics to help farmers complete their online BISS applications.

You can also get a Farm Advisory System (FAS) approved advisor to apply for BISS and other farming grants for you. A FAS advisor is someone who is qualified to give farmers advice on a range of topics, including applying for grants and schemes. You will have to pay the FAS advisor for this service.

You can find a list of farm advisors on gov.ie.

When is the deadline?

The deadline for applications is midnight 15 May 2024.

Late applications

You can submit your application up to 25 calendar days after the deadline on 15 May 2024. However, for each working day you are late applying, there is a 1% deduction to your payments.

Changes to your application after the deadline

You can make certain changes to your application after it has been submitted. Though, you may have to pay a penalty for some of them depending on when you update your application.

Adding or amending land to your application

You can make certain changes to your application up until 10 June 2024. These changes include things like:

• Adding parcels
• Adding plots
• Amending claimed areas

You can make these changes online up until 31 May 2024 without having to pay a penalty fee.

However, if you make these changes between 31 May 2024 and 10 June 2024, you will have to pay a penalty. For each working day you are late making these changes, your payment on the parcel will reduce by 1%.

Withdrawing or reducing land on your application

You can make other changes to your application after 31 May 2024 without having to pay any late fee. These changes include:

• Withdrawing land
• Reducing the claimed area of a parcel
• Changing the use of a parcel from eligible to ineligible (for example, transferring a house site)

You will not have to pay a late fee for these changes, as long as:

• The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine hasn’t informed you of issues with your 2024 BISS application
• You haven’t been notified about an on-the-spot inspection
• An on-the-spot inspection hasn’t shown non-compliance with the parcels you are changing
• You haven’t received any payments under the BISS scheme for 2024

See BISS 2024 Terms and Conditions (pdf) for more information.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine has a number of useful guides to help you complete your BISS application. These include:

• A guide on completing your BISS application online (pdf)
• Terms and conditions for BISS 2024 (pdf)
• Information on BISS entitlements
• Land Eligibility Guide (pdf)