The Department of Agriculture has revealed that 14,186 applications have been submitted to the Fodder Support Scheme up to Tuesday evening, 28 July. As detailed in Table 1, the highest level of applications have been submitted by farmers in the west of the country, which is not surprising given that dairy farmers with a milk supply contract are not eligible to apply and tillage lands are ineligible.

The scheme, which offers payment for fodder saved in a one- or two-cut system, opened for applications initially on 17 June, with farmers with Category 1 lands under the Areas of Natural Constraint permitted to apply from 23 June. The closing date for applications is 2 August 2022 and only forage conserved by 5 September is eligible.

Grassland, defined as BPS parcels containing alfalfa, arable silage (grass), clover, grass silage, grass years one to five, grass years one to five multi-species sward, grassmeal, lucerne, permanent pasture, permanent pasture MSS, red clover, and traditional hay meadow, is eligible for inclusion.

A step-by-step guide for applying is detailed as follows;

  • Once you log on to agfood.ie, scroll down the list of options and select the heading “Exceptional Aid Measure”.
  • This will bring you through to a screen displaying links to the terms and conditions of the scheme and a link to submit queries. In the top left corner, click on the heading “select scheme to enter”.
  • This brings up three options – Fodder Support Scheme 2022, Beef Exceptional Aid Measure, and Beef Finisher Payment.
  • The next page will show your current details as registered with the Department and the option to create a new application.
    • Once this option is selected, it brings you to a portal which displays the total claimed area as per your 2022 BPS application, the area of non-payable hectares and the total area eligible for inclusion in the scheme.
    • The next step is entering the area in hectares that you are committing to cut and conserve as hay/silage in a first and second cut. The last steps are to accept four scheme declarations and then click on the “submit application” button at the bottom.

      Once submitted, you will be notified that an application has been submitted successfully.