Under Tams II, it is widely expected that grants will be available early in the new year for tillage farmers to invest in GPS technology. Specific details are unavailable as of yet, which is a little bit unfortunate as December is an ideal month for many farmers to carry out some research.

The problem is that the type of products that a specific farmer needs may not be included in the scheme. It has been confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that grants will be also made available for grain drying and storage facilities. Like the GPS systems, we have no specific information.

In this week’s section, we interview tillage farmer Larry O’Reilly on how the new Rauch Axent performed in the fields. We also look at the new balers from John Deere for both the farmer and contractor. Grimme opened a new premises in north Dublin and a full report is on page 7.