A €56m scheme, the Fodder Support Scheme, to pay farmers to make hay and silage at a rate of up to €100/ha, is set to open for applications in the coming days, according to Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue.

The maximum area eligible for payment under the scheme is 10ha with a potential maximum payment received by a farmer of €1,000.

Farmers wishing to apply can do so either themselves or through their advisor up to 2 August 2022 and the scheme will only apply to hay or silage cut and conserved by 5 September 2022.

Inspections

Following questions from the Irish Farmers Journal on what evidence of silage or hay making might be required from farmers by the Department of Agriculture, Minister McConalogue has clarified that there will be “on-the-spot inspections”.

However, the exact details of these inspections, and what exactly might be inspected, are not yet known.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue launched the €56m Fodder Support Scheme on Wednesday. \ Philip Doyle

Payments will commence in late November 2022 once all administrative issues, compliance and inspections have been undertaken and all payments will be made before the end of 2022, according to the Department.

Only grassland farmers will be eligible to apply and, as previously revealed, dairy farmers will not qualify for any support payment. Tillage land and lands classified as Category 1 land under the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) scheme will also not be eligible for support.

Oversubscription

The Department described how if the Fodder Support Scheme oversubscribed, the payment rate per hectare will be less than €100/ha.

In this scenario, the Department says it will reduce the payment rate for all hectares or maintain the rate of €100/ha on the first few hectares and reduce it on the latter hectares.

The €56m scheme aims to incentivise farmers, in particular dry stock farmers to grow more fodder for the coming winter to ensure Ireland does not have any animal welfare issues or fodder shortages over the coming winter and next spring.

The details of the scheme will be notified to the European Commission in accordance with the Temporary Crisis Framework (TCF) and approval of applications under the measure will be subject to Commission decision on the scheme.

‘Adequate stocks for winter’

Launching the scheme on Monday, Minister McConalogue said the move is part of the government’s “response to the increase in agricultural input costs, in particular for chemical fertiliser and the impact that will have on the quantity of fodder produced and conserved for the coming winter”.

“This is a crucial scheme which will assist grow fodder stocks in the country to ensure we have adequate stocks for the winter ahead,” he said.

The Minister said the scheme will be “rolled out as a matter of urgency” and that he hopes “there will be strong uptake from farmers”.

He highlighted that this is the latest support measure he has put in place for farmers to deal with the impact of the war in Ukraine on input prices. In March, a €12m Tillage Incentive Scheme was launched to encourage the growing of tillage crops as well as red clover and multi-species sward.

Two separate supports packages worth €20m for the pig sector have delivered while a targeted package worth almost €3m has been put in place for the horticulture and veg sector.