The Agriculture Appeals Office has found that insufficient notification was given by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) around changes to the terms and conditions of the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Scheme (SCEP).

The finding was made following an appeal lodged by a farmer who said he was not aware of the change in the terms and conditions when he was applying for the scheme.

During an oral hearing, the farmer explained that he had set his programme reference in accordance with the original terms and conditions and as set out by the department at SCEP information meetings.

The farmer said there was no indication on the terms and conditions of their date of publication, while the version on the DAFM website did not state it was an amended version.

The farmer added that there was no reason to suspect that an amendment had been included relating to the calculation of the programme reference.

The department stated that the original terms and conditions for SCEP, published on March 21, 2023, allowed new entrants to declare a programme reference and yearly reference of their own choosing at application stage.

The oral hearing was told that the farmer who had made the appeal chose a reference of 100.

DAFM said the terms of the scheme were amended on May 11, 2023 and stated that the programme reference chosen by the new entrant should reflect the number of eligible suckler cows that they estimate will produce an eligible calf in scheme year 1.

The department informed the herdowner that his reference number was reduced to 63.

DAFM noted that the minister for agriculture has the right to alter terms and conditions and that the amended version was uploaded to the department website and that updated instructionswere given on the online application.

In deciding to allow the farmer's appeal, the appeals officer said that the information provided by the department was not consistent between information meetings, the original terms and conditions and the online application instructions.

"Both farmers and their advisors worked on the basis of the information provided at the information meetings and were not aware of the amendment," the Agriculture Appeals Office annual report said.

Established in 2002, the Agriculture Appeals Office provides an appeals service to farmers who are not satisfied with decisions of DAFM concerning designated schemes operated by the department.

483 appeals were made by farmers in relation to farm schemes in 2024, down from 624 in the previous year. SCEP was the scheme with the highest number of appeals last year at 104.

This was followed by 67 appeals for the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) Scheme and 47 each for the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) and the Shannon Callows Flood Scheme.

Of the appeals which were allowed or partially allowed in 2024, 36 were SCEP appeals, 25 related to the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and 23 were for TAMS. Among the appeals that were disallowed there were 78 related to SCEP.