Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed announced this Tuesday that the Budget 2019 allocation to the ANC scheme would increase by €23m to a total of €250m, restoring the level applied before recession cuts.

It remains to be seen how the Department will distribute the new funds among almost 100,000 farmers participating in the scheme. Following a previous €25m increase in last year's budget, the new rates announced the following February targeted most of the additional money to smaller hill farms.

If the same distribution applied to this year's increase, the top rates would change as follows, according to an IFA calculation:

  • In a mountain area, the maximum payment for 34ha would increase from €4,038 to around €4,640 – an increase of €600, or €1,150 since 2017.
  • In a more severely handicapped area, the maximum payment for 30ha would be €3,350 for 2019. This would be an increase of about €230 compared with 2018 and an overall increase of €470 over 2017.
  • In a less severely handicapped area, the top payment would rise to about €2,800, up from €2,647 this year – again for 30ha. This represents improvement of more than €150 on last year and €330 since 2017.

    • The ANC scheme will also undergo significant change with the new delineation of eligible areas by the end of this year. This may affect the way additional funding is distributed.

    Read more

    Budget 2019: €23m for disadvantaged areas (ANCs)

    Budget 2019: everything farmers need to know