The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed to Agriland that a total of 296 people failed the Active Farmer Check last year.

The Active Farmer Check was first introduced in 2023 to ensure that any individual who receives scheme payments, for example under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), is the "person farming the land".

According to DAFM, scheme applicants farming the land must "also be engaged in a minimum level of agricultural activity".

It has highlighted that there are a number of different ways that the Active Farmer Check can be met.

These include meeting the minimum stocking level of 0.10 livestock units per hectare.

DAFM has outlined that other eligible farming activities range from "producing eligible crops, making hay or silage, maintaining landscape features".

A spokesperson added: "The primary method of confirming a minimum level of activity by applicants is related to production agriculture, for example livestock and crops, but applicants have also qualified based on maintenance activities that the applicant is carrying out on their lands.

According to DAFM, in all cases, the minimum agricultural activity assessment will require applicants "to provide evidence of a meaningful level of activity on lands, whether production or maintenance based".

"This means that any receipts or evidence of maintenance will have to be proportionate to the scale of the farming enterprise," the spokesperson added.

Active Farmer Check

If a farmer fails to meet an Active Farmer Check then they will not not meet the criteria for key CAP schemes such as the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) or the Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS).

According to DAFM, the Active Farmer Check process is currently underway for 2026. No applicants have failed so far this year.

However, the latest figures supplied by the department show that there has an been increase each year since 2023 in the number of people who have failed the check:

DAFM has detailed that applicants who failed the Active Farmer Check may not have submitted "sufficient documentation" to support the fact that they are carrying out a minimum and proportionate eligible agricultural activity on their holding.

According to the department, applicants under Active Farmer Review are crosschecked against DAFM's systems initially "to determine if the applicant has carried out an eligible agricultural activity".

If it cannot be established that an applicant has carried out an eligible agricultural activity, they are contacted and asked "to submit documentation to support their active farmer claim."

Evidence of any agricultural activity carried out by the applicant will be accepted, "regardless of the activity selected at application time", the department has confirmed.