It is understood that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has proposed a number of clarifications to the terms and conditions of the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).

Representatives of farm organisations on the Farmers' Charter received notice of the proposed amendments.

One of the proposed changes concerns the interaction between OFS payments and Non-Productive Investments (NPIs) in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).

Farmers in ACRES are not paid in OFS for area-based actions such as wild bird cover and riparian margins to avoid double funding between the two schemes. This approach will be maintained for the NPIs. 

NPI actions which require land to be fenced off and unavailable for farming such as establishing a small woodland will not be paid in OFS.

A review of OFS penalties for non-compliant farmers was undertaken and contact was made with European counterparts. OFS penalties range from 20, 50 to 100%.

It is understood that the department proposes to adjust the penalties so that they would still be "more proportionate" to the offence.

The range of penalties would then be 10, 20 and 50 and 100%, which will still maintain the integrity of the scheme.

OFS currently states that farmers must have a minimum stocking rate of 0.1 LU/ha. This is based on Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) requirements.

The changes state that these terms and conditions are "not clear" around the exact requirements and it is proposed to avoid confusion by specifically stating "meet ANC requirements".

All OFS participants must undertake a 25-hour training course. The current terms and conditions state that if this is not completed by October 1 in the first year of organic farming, then the contract is terminated.

It is proposed to amend this to state, so that payment will not be made until a training cert is submitted.