Ireland’s new soil map will form the basis for the reclassification of disadvantaged areas. The news emerged in advance of next week’s scheduled delivery of €120m in Disadvantaged Areas Scheme (DAS) payments to 60,000 farmers.

The digital soil map, developed primarily by Teagasc, was launched on Monday, making Ireland one of the first countries in the world to have such a resource. It brings together generations of soil profiling, and maps Ireland’s complex web of soils into 213 different series.

Currently, 3.31 million hectares, 66% of all agricultural land, is in receipt of DAS payments. A mandatory EU-wide overhaul of disadvantaged areas, to be known from now on as Areas of Natural Constraint (ANCs), has been ongoing for some years, and must be in place by 2018. Ten objective criteria have been put in place, of which only a couple can be practically applied in Ireland. Soil type as identified in the map, in conjunction with rainfall levels, will establish soil trafficability, the dominant criteria to be used here.

IFA rural development chairman Flor McCarthy says Minister Coveney must ensure that current DAS funding levels are maintained, that the maximum amount of DAS lands retain eligibility, and that per- hectare payments are restored to pre-2008 levels.

Read more about the soil map here.