The Department of Agriculture reports that 2,020 grant aid applications have been paid out under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme II (TAMS II) for low-emission slurry spreading (LESS) equipment up to December 2020.

In total, 5,101 payments equating to €21.6m have been made to assist farmers with the purchase of LESS equipment under TAMS II since it began back in 2015.

For 2020, the largest uptake through TAMS II has been on new slurry tankers fitted with LESS attachments. Out of these 804 new slurry tankers, 410 were fitted with dribble bars, 392 with trailing shoes and just two equipped with shallow injection systems.

Trailing shoes have proved the most popular attachment over the years for farmers opting for a new tanker under the scheme.

Retrofit dribble bars are next in line, with 344 applications paid out in 2020. Naturally, umbilical systems have seen the least uptake consider that the scheme is only applicable for farmers.

New rules

TAMS II applications for LESS equipment are expected to increase in 2021, partly due to new rules that come into effect as of 1 January. The change in rules is said to affect some 5,000 farmers operating above the standard nitrogen cut-off limit of 170kg/ha of organic nitrogen but who remain outside of derogation by means of exporting slurry.

These new rules require all farmers in this position to apply all slurry using LESS equipment as of 15 April 2021. Nitrates derogation farmers must now spread all slurry with LESS equipment.