The 2019 entitlement values and greening rates for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) have been set by the Rural Payments Agency today (November 5).

It follows the confirmation of the BPS exchange rate for this year’s payments, which will start landing in bank accounts in December.

This year, the exchange rate used to calculate the value of payments made to farmers has been confirmed at €1 = £0.89092 – almost exactly the same as in 2018, when the rate was €1 = £0.89281.

2019 Entitlement rates are as follows:

2019 Greening rates are as follows:

Under BPS, farmers need to hold an entitlement for every hectare of eligible land they are claiming on.

The size of these payments will depend on how many entitlements each business uses, supported by eligible land and the value of those entitlements.

The greening part of payments has been calculated by taking the number of entitlements farmers have used with eligible land to claim payment, and multiplying it by the greening value.

Now that the rates are set, the Rural Payments Agency is focusing on preparing payments so these are ready to land in bank accounts when the payment window opens.

BPS, greening and the young farmer payment will continue to operate for the 2020 scheme year.