Client Profile

Customer Name: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Established: 1919

Customer Since: 2006

Employees: approx. 3,000

Sector: Government

The Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (DAFM) plays a vital role in supporting Ireland’s agricultural sector. As the official Paying Agency for all EU agricultural support schemes in Ireland under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), it ensures the prompt payment of EU funds to Irish farmers and administers a budget of more than € 2.5 billion. 

Agriculture is crucial to the Irish economy, responsible for 7.7% of employment and 10.5% of total exports. DAFM’s legacy systems threatened their ability to efficiently aid farmers and comply with ever-evolving, complex EU regulations. Having already coped with a decade of annual scheme changes, DAFM’s payment systems were buckling under the weight of constantly evolving EU regulations. 

Since 2014, Version 1 has been the department’s trusted partner, responsible for the design and support of all core systems enabling payments for EU agricultural support schemes. A newly developed system went live in 2015, issuing over €1.2 billion of EU Direct Payments to farmers in its first year and putting Ireland among the first to make these payments.  

The 2015-2019 EU CAP reforms introduced new schemes, including the Basic Payment Scheme, Greening Scheme, Young Farmer Scheme, and Protein Schemes, all of which required complex recalculations for all entitlements.  

Working closely with the department, we reviewed its needs and recommended a complete technology overhaul. To prioritise longevity, we selected future-proof technologies like Java. Our agile development approach allowed us to deliver key components early, ensuring critical deadlines were met – even when faced with late-arriving EU regulations. 

The new system has transformed DAFM’s operations. Farmers now benefit from a streamlined online experience and receive their EU payments rapidly. In addition, Ireland has solidified its position as an EU leader in agricultural support systems.  

Outcomes

  • Redeveloped the DAFM’s Internet portal to enhance the user experience and set the stage for broader modernization. 
  • Built new payment processing and entitlements management systems using future-proofed technologies 
  • Provided calculation routines to help DAFM understand and plan for CAP scheme changes. 
  • Delivered system components incrementally, allowing critical milestones to be met throughout the year. 
  • Maintained flexibility in development, accommodating late-breaking regulatory changes. 

“I would like to thank the Version 1 team who have worked so tirelessly on this project to make it such a great success. This has very much been a team effort where everyone working on entitlements, spatial and payments systems has played a vital part in delivering this challenging programme of work. We are all very proud of the achievements delivered over the last number of years; records set in online uptake, one of the first EU countries to make payments, delivery of more value added services to farmers and more.”

– Sean Keevey, Head of ICT, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

“Most people know the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine processes payments to farmers. Here it paid out €1.2 billion to Ireland’s farmers. On day one last October, 93% of the farmers received their advance payment. No other farmer in Europe is as lucky, and the whole process is online, no paper required.” 

– The Sunday Business Post, November 11th 2018 

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