The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has called for all farmers who applied to be included in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) and that the June closing date for TAMS III is brought forward.

These were the demands of an IFA delegation in a meeting with Department of Agriculture officials last week.

Chair of the IFA rural development committee Michael Biggins said that it is imperative all valid 46,600 applicants are accepted into ACRES and anybody waiting to get into the second tranche must also be accommodated.

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"We can’t leave anyone behind. Too many low-income families, particularly in the vulnerable sectors, depend on agri-environment schemes to keep going.

“We've been pushing for this for some time now and while we've been told solutions are being worked on, nothing has materialised,” he said.

TAMS III

With the broader scope and increased list of eligible items, this will undoubtedly be met with increased demand, according to Biggins.

This demand, Biggins argued, must be matched with adequate funding to ensure farms across all sectors can make necessary on-farm investments.

Of particular concern is the June closing date

"Of particular concern is the June closing date for the first tranche of the new TAMS.

"This date will mean approvals are not likely to issue until August, meaning it will be extremely difficult for any grant-aided construction work to take place this year," he said.

The IFA requested in the meeting that everything possible is done to try to bring forward the deadline for the first tranche.

Obvious omissions

On the eligible list of investment, Biggins said that dribble bar and rubber slat mats were obvious omissions.

“We all know the emissions reduction challenges we face as a sector and the need for increased use of low emissions slurry spreading (LESS) [equipment], but dribble bars are an important part of that solution.

“They were grant aided for derogation farmers to meet their nitrates obligations, so now as the threshold's lower and LESS becomes mandatory for more and more farmers, those operating lower intensity farms cannot be forced to use the more expensive options, particularly when they have been shown to be less suitable on hilly or more marginal ground,” he said.

It is clear, Biggins said, that the door is not fully closed to the reintroduction of dribble bars in subsequent tranches of TAMS.

"There is positive data emerging from ongoing research that could prove beneficial not only with regard to dribble bars coming back in, but it could have positive implications for the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] inventories and how ammonia emissions from slurry are calculated too," he concluded.