So, what will farmers think about Budget 2017? In my last farmer writes piece for www.farmersjournal.ie, I outlined my wish list of things I would like to see in the budget from a farmer’s perspective.

Looking at the bigger picture, the Department of Agriculture’s current budget is being increased by 9%. This increased funding is targeted at the Rural Development Programme, through the Green Low Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) and a new animal welfare scheme for sheep. This increase in funding will lead to an expected 50,000 farmers participating in GLAS. All very welcome measures.

However, there is no mention of increased funding under the Areas of Natural Constraint scheme. It appears farmers are going to have to wait until 2018 for this increase, which is promised in the programme for Government.

Neither is there any mention of changes to the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP). Indeed, in documents published by the Department of Finance, the number of farmers participating in BDGP is forecast as 24,000, while participants in the Knowledge Transfer Programme is expected to be 20,000.

Both schemes are well short of their original targets and suckler farmers in particular will be disappointed that there is no increased funding coming their way in 2017.

Tax

On the tax side, overall there are few changes. No changes to income tax rates, bands or allowances were announced. The earned income tax credit has been increased by €400 to €950.

This is still well below the PAYE tax credit of €1,650 and anybody who claims the PAYE tax credit cannot claim the earned income tax credit. This of course means part-time farmers will not be entitled to the increased credit announced in this year’s budget.

There are changes to the lower rates of Universal Social Charge (USC). The three lowest rates have been reduced by 0.5%.

I suspect for the vast majority of farmers and indeed other taxpayers this will be the most noticeable change. The pity is that this cut in taxes and charges is spread so thinly.

Income averaging

The Minister for Finance also announced that farmers who are availing of income averaging can “step out” for the current year.

Of course, this is welcome for the current year, where many farmers are experiencing cashflow difficulties for various reasons.

I would be interested to know the number of farmers that avail of income averaging as there are restrictions to its use and it is not available where the farmer or spouse have an off-farm income.

The Department of Agriculture plans to use the EU exceptional adjustment aid fund to provide low-cost loans to farmers through the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland and finance providers.

Details of the loan scheme are to follow, but this scheme has the potential to help farmers, both in terms of cashflow and providing low-cost finance for developing and improving their enterprise.

So back to my original question: “What will farmers think about Budget 2017?”

Underwhelming.