What each farm scheme actually pays in 2026

Most articles about farm payments tell you when the money lands. Far fewer tell you what it pays. This one gives the 2026 rate for each main DAFM scheme, taken from the terms and conditions published on 24 August 2026. It also names the five rates that are still not set, because several of those are circulating as if they were confirmed.

You will find last year's figures printed as this year's on more than one site. Those are flagged here instead.

If you want the calendar rather than the rates, we keep that separately in the 2026 farm payment calendar.

The rates that are confirmed for 2026

These come from the DAFM 2026 terms and conditions or a 2026 scheme FAQ.

Scheme	2026 rate	Paid on
ANC Category 1	€148 first 12ha, then €112 to 34ha	Hectare
ANC Category 2	€111 first 10ha, then €104 to 30ha	Hectare
ANC Category 3	€93 first 8ha, then €88.25 to 30ha	Hectare
ANC island land	€250, €170 and €70 by category	Hectare
SCEP	€225 first 15ha, €180 after that	Hectare
Sheep Improvement Scheme	€12	Breeding ewe
Straw Incorporation	€250 cereals, €150 oilseed rape	Hectare
Organics, drystock	€300 converting, €250 maintaining	Hectare
Organics, tillage	€320 converting, €270 maintaining	Hectare
Organics, dairy	€350 converting, €300 maintaining	Hectare
Organics, horticulture	€800 converting, €600 maintaining	Hectare

Organic participants also receive a flat payment on top. It is €2,000 in year one and €1,400 after that.

Three things in that table that catch people out

SCEP is not paid per cow. This is the one most often described wrongly. Your reference cow number is divided by 1.5 to give a maximum payable area. The payment is then made per hectare on that area. If your eligible forage area drops below 80% of it, you are paid nothing that year.

ANC stops well before your whole farm. Mixed land is paid to a maximum of 30 hectares, or 34 where all of it is Category 1. It is paid in order, Category 1 first, then 2, then 3. Islands cap at 40 hectares.

Organics falls off a cliff above 70 hectares. Every rate in that table applies to your first 70 hectares. Above that it is €60 per hectare converting and €30 maintaining. The scheme is also closed to new entrants. The 2026 intake shut on 12 December 2025.

BISS is not a rate, it is your entitlements

There is no per-hectare BISS figure to look up, because BISS pays the value of the entitlements you hold. Two rules move that value in 2026.

Convergence sets a floor. Every entitlement now has a minimum value of 85% of the new national average.

There is also a ceiling. DAFM states plainly that in 2026 no farmer will receive more than €285 per entitlement.

Then capping applies at the top. The maximum BISS payment is €66,000. Payments between €60,000 and €100,000 are cut by 85%, and anything above €100,000 is cut entirely. Capping applies to BISS alone. CRISS, the Eco Scheme, Protein Aid and CISYF are not capped.

A €100 minimum payment threshold applies across BISS, CRISS, Eco, ANC and Protein Aid.

The rates nobody can give you yet

This is the part worth reading twice, because the figures below are circulating as though they were settled.

CRISS. No 2026 rate has been published. The most recent official figure is €44.65 per hectare, and that is the revised 2023 rate. It applies to your first 30 hectares.

Eco Scheme. No 2026 rate. The last confirmed figure is €66 per hectare in 2025. The 2026 terms and conditions contain a €70 per hectare figure inside a worked penalty example. That is an illustration, not a rate, and it should not be quoted as one.

The BISS national average entitlement value. Figures of roughly €165 average and €145 floor are widely repeated. They trace back to a 2021 CAP Strategic Plan projection, not to any 2026 confirmation.

Protein Aid. The final rate is set only after applications close. The ceiling is confirmed at €600 per hectare, or €300 for a mix.

The National Sheep Welfare Scheme. This runs alongside the Sheep Improvement Scheme in 2026. Around €13 per ewe has been reported. The most recent FAQ we could retrieve from gov.ie is the 2024 version, which carried €8. Treat the 2026 figure as unconfirmed until DAFM publishes it.

The pattern is the same in each case. Rates that depend on how many farmers apply cannot be fixed until the applications are in. That is not DAFM being slow. It is how a fixed budget divided among an unknown number of applicants has to work.

Two changes worth knowing about for 2026

Advances went up. The advance payment rate moved from 70% to 75% for BISS, CRISS and the Eco Scheme. It was announced on 21 August 2026 as part of the drought response. On a €10,000 entitlement that is €500 more in October and €500 less in December. It is the same money, earlier.

There is a new tillage scheme. Teagasc reports a Tillage Sustainability Support Scheme launched for 2026. It pays €110 per hectare on the first 100 hectares, €90 from 100 to 125, €70 from 125 to 150, and €50 above that.

One more thing on straw. If applications exceed the budget, DAFM can apply a linear cut or a degressive rate. The illustration given runs €250 up to 20 hectares, €200 from 20 to 30, and €175 from 30 to 40. Do not budget the full €250 across 40 hectares.

Where an assistant actually helps here

Not with the rates. They are published, and this page has them.

Where it helps is the arithmetic across schemes, which is where mistakes live. Put your own figures in front of it. Hectares by ANC category. Reference cow number. Ewe numbers. Organic status and year. Then ask it to work out what each scheme should pay you, and to show the per-hectare band it used at every step.

Two rules make that safe. Tell it to mark any figure it is unsure of rather than filling the gap. Then check the bands yourself against the table above. It is arithmetic help, not advice, and the ANC banding in particular is easy to get wrong by hand.

What it must not do is guess the five unset rates. If it gives you a 2026 CRISS or Eco figure, it has invented one.

Frequently asked questions

Why can nobody tell me my exact 2026 payment?

Because two of the biggest components are not set. CRISS and the Eco Scheme both depend on how many farmers apply and on how much eligible land is claimed. Until applications close, the pot is known but the number of shares is not. You can total the confirmed rates above and treat the rest as an estimate.

Is SCEP paid per cow or per hectare?

Per hectare. The cow reference number only decides your maximum payable area, after being divided by 1.5. It is €225 for the first 15 hectares and €180 for the rest. This trips up a lot of people who budget it per animal.

Does the €66,000 BISS cap apply to my whole payment?

No. Capping applies to BISS only. CRISS, the Eco Scheme, Protein Aid and CISYF sit outside it. So a farmer capped on BISS still receives those in full.

The bottom line

Total the confirmed rates. ANC, SCEP, sheep, straw and organics are all published and will not move.

Then leave CRISS and the Eco Scheme as a gap in your figures until DAFM sets them. Do not fill that gap with last year's number. A budget built on a stale rate is worse than a budget with a hole in it, because you cannot see the hole.

For when each of these actually lands, use the 2026 farm payment calendar. For the scheme detail, we have separate guides to BISS and ACRES.