NI farmers to benefit from extra £8m subsidy

Northern Ireland's farmers are to benefit from an extra £8m in subsidy payments this year.

A redistribution of surplus cash from the budget means 24,000 farms will on average, get an extra £330.

The money is not distributed uniformly, and additional payments are dependent on farm size.

Northern Ireland had £293m to distribute to farmers this year, and under Treasury rules, the money can only be used for this purpose.

Because not all of it was claimed there was additional money in the pot.

The first of the payments will begin to land in accounts from 16 October.

The Agriculture minister Edwin Poots said he was "committed to supporting our agricultural sector".

The increase will mean an extra 4.3% on farm entitlements, the measure used to calculate payments.