FARMERS have blasted what they call an "unacceptable delay" in a scheme to improve farms.
The Farm Business Improvement Scheme was announced last year but the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) said the benefits were yet to be felt on the ground.
The union said "talk needs to be turned into action" on the issue.
It said the focus on planning and detail in preparing the scheme was "leaving farmers and others frustrated that yet again red tape is preventing people taking advantage of a programme designed to bring economic benefits to the agriculture industry".
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Dard) said the scheme would include a portfolio of measures to support sustainable growth in the agriculture sector.
Proposals include a capital investment scheme that provides capital support.
UFU president Ian Marshall said: "Back in August, the agriculture minister, Michelle O’Neill, announced that the European Commission had formally approved the 2014-2020 Rural Development Programme (RDP).
"Seven months on, farmers are frustrated by the time it is taking to roll the Farm Business Investment Scheme out on the ground. To date the only thing meaningful that has come from the scheme has been the farm business development groups."
The UFU said that in the Going for Growth report and elsewhere it was stressed that the Farm Business Investment Scheme needed to be rolled out to farmers as quickly as possible.
It had been proposed that this would have two tiers - £5,000 to £30,000 and an upper tier to £250,000 grant, the UFU said.
But Mr Marshall said Dard should now "recognise this delay and introduce both together as soon as possible".
“We believe Dard focussed on practical ways to give farmers an opportunity to access rural development programme funds. In addition engagement on key agri-environment measures has been just about non-existent,” said Mr Marshall.
“Currently the evidence shows that already the process is over-complicated. Ultimately this is infuriating farmers and delaying investment even further."
