AQW 20949/22-27

Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim

Tabled Date: 21/01/2025
Answered On Date: 31/01/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail the number of Environmental Farming Scheme wider level agreements that have ended since this level was withdrawn in 2023.

Answer:

Since 2017, 4,420 businesses entered into Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS), Wider Agreements across six Tranches. The last EFS Wider Agreements, Tranche 6, began in January 2023 and are due to complete in December 2027.

The number of EFS Wider Agreements in each Tranche are detailed in the following table:

EFS Wider Tranche	Start Date	Completion Date	Number of Agreements
1	03 Jul 2017	31 Dec 2022	912
2	01 Jan 2019	31 Dec 2023	1,310
3	01 Jan 2020	31 Dec 2024	1,494
4	01 Jan 2021	31 Dec 2025	256
5	01 Jan 2022	31 Dec 2026	124
6	01 Jan 2023	31 Dec 2027	324
Total			4,420

Since January 2023, 2,804 EFS Wider Agreements have come to an end (Tranche 2 and 3 agreements). In addition, 912 Tranche 1 agreements ended prior to 2023. Therefore, a total of 3,716 farm businesses have completed their 5-year EFS Wider agreements.