Last month, Glanbia co-op announced the creation of a €55m fund (GAP) which would provide dairy and grain farmers an interest-free short-term loan. With the dairy market remaining extremely fragile, coupled with a weak grain market, it is no surprise there has been significant interest in the scheme which provides additional cashflow.

Available on May to December 2016 milk supply, it is payable at a rate of up to a maximum of 2c/litre in any month where the base price is below 24c/l including VAT.

The money must be returned when the base price exceeds 30c/l (or in 2020 if that does not occur).

A typical dairy farmer, supplying 500,000 litres of milk, could receive a cashflow boost of up to €6,000 assuming milk prices remain below 24c between May and December. Similarly a 100-acre tillage farmer could receive up to €6,000.