Farmers could be paid €100/ha to grow silage under a package being brought to cabinet by Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue this Tuesday.

If it receives the green light, farmers will be paid €100/ha for up to a maximum of 10ha of silage. This would result in a maximum payment of €1,000 per farmer under the scheme.

It is understood that up to €55m could be earmarked for the scheme and that payments would be made later in the year.

Tillage

In March, the Minister announced a €12m Tillage Incentive Scheme, which pays farmers to grow more tillage crops, as well as clover and multi-species swards, to help offset the country's dependency on imported grains and artificial fertilisers in light of the war in Ukraine.

Two packages worth a total of €20m have been allocated to pig farmers, who are dealing with skyrocketing feed and energy costs over the last number of months.

Some €3m has also been assigned to the horticulture sector, which has seen soaring energy costs.

Fodder committee

Over the last number of months, fertiliser, feed and energy costs have soared across farms.

A National Fodder and Food Security Committee was set up to provide advice and assistance to farmers throughout this period and the Minister also established an emergency response team in his own Department to manage the impact.

At the latest meeting of the committee, a Teagasc survey of 936 drystock farmers found that 61% had no difficulty in sourcing fertiliser. However, 49% had no nitrogen spread on grazing ground as of mid-April.

Fifty-seven percent of farmers said they were reducing nitrogen rates on silage ground.

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