An appeals officer determined that a “nitrates credit” should have been applied in the case of a farmer who was restricted due to a Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) outbreak in his herd.
The case was among the appeals decided by the Agricultural Appeals Office (AAO) during 2023.
The AAO, which was established in 2002, provides an appeals service to applicants of schemes administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
BVD
The AAO annual report outlined that the appeal related to a cross compliance sanction issued to a farmer who had breached their nitrogen (N) limit due to BVD restriction.
The department stated that the farmer had exceeded the 170kg/ha limit for N from livestock manure on his holding in 2021.
As this was a repeat breach, a sanction of 3% was multiplied by a factor of three to give a sanction of 9%.
It was noted that restrictions on farms arising from BVD are not allowable for what is known as “nitrates credit”, which only arises in the case of bovine tuberculosis (TB).
The farmer told an oral hearing that the holding was restricted from June 2021 to January 2022 due to a BVD positive animal.
They were unable to sell stock due to the BVD restrictions and no animals were factory fit at the time.
As a result, the farmer said they were unable to reduce the herd for the purposes of complying with the nitrates limit.
The appeals officer said that the farmer “was not in any way responsible for the restriction on the holding”.
The officer added that this was “a case of exceptional unforeseen circumstances which were beyond the control of the farmer and had a material impact on their ability to trade as usual”.
In allowing the appeal, the officer found that a “nitrates credit” should apply, commensurate with the credit applied had the restriction arisen due to TB.
Appeals
According to the annual report, the AAO received 624 appeals from farmers in 2023, while the number of which were closed during the year stood at 652.
Around one third of appeals made in 2023 related to the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP).
Of the 652 appeals closed in 2023, 48% of appeals were allowed, partially allowed or revised by the department.
44% of appeals were disallowed and 8% were withdrawn, deemed invalid or were out of time.