Mr Downey said the agricultural sector continues to deliver positive growth in food exports and jobs, which is a real and sustainable return on the Government’s investment in agriculture.

He said the expenditure priorities for farming in Budget 2015 are:

  • Commencement of contracts for the new agri-environmental GLAS scheme in early 2015, with 30,000 farmers allowed into the scheme in its first year and payments made in 2015;

  • Allocation of €30m for the TAMS scheme in 2015 to fund on-farm investment programmes across all sectors;

  • Funding of €52m for the Beef Data & Genomic Scheme to support the vulnerable suckler sector;

  • Increased capital funding allocations for the horticulture, forestry and aquaculture sectors to achieve output targets and employment growth.

    • Taxation priorities for farming in Budget 2015 are:

  • Introduction of a Tax Deposit Scheme to better manage income volatility as a result of weather extremes and product price fluctuations;

  • Introduction of a Phased Transfer Partnership model, providing tax relief to farmholders during the defined period of transfer to the next generation of young farmers;

  • Retention of 90% Agricultural Relief to support the transfer of viable family farms;

  • Retention of Pay & File deadline for self-assessed income tax returns and simplification of income tax returns for farmers with low turnover;

  • Simplification of taxation system to reduce cost of compliance on small farm businesses.

    • The IFA will be meeting the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and the Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin later this week to discuss the proposals further.