Around 107,000 eligible BPS claims were paid out to farmers in December, totalling £1 billion, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has confirmed.
In December, the first month of the farm payment window, more payments than ever before reached farmers' bank accounts, the RPA said.
The agency paid out £1 billion for farmers by 31 December, on top of the £679m issued for Basic Payment Scheme advances earlier in the summer of 2022.
This total represents 98.4% of eligible claims to the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), up from 98.3% in 2021, the agency's figures show.
It includes 73.6% of claims to the Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CS) revenue, up from 61.9%, and 76.5% of claims to Environmental Stewardship (ES), up from 64.8%, in 2022.
In recognition of the importance of cashflow for farmers, as announced in May 2022, farmers claiming direct payments received two separate payments for the 2022 scheme.
This was the start of a permanent change to the BPS payment cycle, with payments now being made in two instalments each year until the end of the agricultural transition period in 2027.
In addition, since April 2022, over £90.8m has been paid out in CS Capital Grants, on average issued within 20 days, which support the establishment of woodland and hedges, water quality and air quality.
Responding to the figures, RPA chief executive, Paul Caldwell said last year was challenging for farmers across the country.
"We have focused on processing applications, claims and getting payments into bank accounts which I hope has helped farmers deal with the issues they have faced.
"We want more farmers to come into environmental schemes and recognise the importance of being able to start on their agreements, so the improvements this year are important to be able to build on.
"We know how important our work is to rural communities, so we’ll continue to work hard to help where we can over the next 12 months."
In a further improvement for 2022, the RPA issued 94.9% of CS agreement offers by 31 December, with 98.2% of Mid-Tier agreement offers (up from 41.2%) and 65.9% (up from 54%) of Higher Tier agreement offers.
