Clinic for Kildare farmers applying for BPS online - Heydon

Pic Matthew Henry.

A clinic will be held to help Kildare farmers with their online applications for the Basic Payment Scheme, according to Kildare South Fine Gael TD Martin Heydon. The online clinic will be held at the West Grove Hotel, Clane, on Friday 6 April from 9am to 12:30pm

Further to existing supports available, such as telephone help-lines, how-to guides and instructional videos, staff from the Department of Agriculture will be available to meet with farmers on a one-to-one basis to assist them in making their applications.

“These clinics have proven successful in the past and farmers can sit down with an official from the Department and make their online BPS or Transfer of Entitlements applications on the spot," Deputy Heydon says.

“Online applications offer a range of benefits for farmers and also help the Department to issue these vital payments more efficiently.

“The recent growth in the number of online BPS applications shows more and more farmers are finding that the best way to apply for vital schemes such as BPS and ANC is online. From 2018 all the elements of the Direct Payments Schemes (BPS, Greening, Young Farmers Scheme, National Reserve, and Transferring of Entitlements) will be online. This will help to ensure that the Department can process all applications under these schemes as efficiently as possible.”

Should farmers wish to contact the Department in relation to their online application they can do so at 076 1064424 in relation to queries on registering for www.agfood.ie – for example queries on lost passwords, how to register etc, or at 076 1064420 in relation to queries on actually completing the BPS application once registered on www.agfood.ie or to enquire about the one-to-one clinics.