Under the new tillage TAMS scheme, investment in precision agriculture is supported with a 40% grant on new and retro fitted GPS units with a 60% grant available to young qualified farmers.
According to the newly released TAMS qualifying list there are four main areas where GPS technology is included. Firstly, on your tractor, if an automatic steering system is ordered on a new tractor the cost of this upgrade qualifies, equally if an aftermarket system is retrofitted this will also qualify under the scheme.
The reference cost supplied by the department is €9,400 for factory fitted system and €10,800 for the aftermarket system. For this investment, typically a 75mm accuracy can be achieved which is more than sufficient for most cereal farmers.
Yield monitors on combines are also included in the scheme with the reference cost for these standing at €3,300. If all the other related precision equipment is being ordered on a new machine this reference cost matches up to the extra investment required.
Sprayer
Sprayer technology is also included in the scheme. Where either a new mounted or trailed sprayer with GPS control qualifies.
The reference cost for these machines is calculated using a mathematical equation where you enter the tank size of the machine and it gives the reference cost. The equation is different depending on whether a mounted or trailed in being purchased.
An example for a trailed sprayer it is 11.207x + 14119 = y.
This is where x = tank size and y = reference cost. For a 3,000-litre sprayer it is (11.207x3000) +€14,199 = €47,820. The aftermarket fitting of full GPS section control to an existing sprayer is also covered under the scheme, this has a reference cost on a per unit basis of €8,700.
Spreaders
The fourth GPS related item on the list is fertiliser spreaders, from talking to people in the trade and farmers it seems there may be issues with the wording or parameters of this item. It is very hard to distinguish between what is the price of the spreader and what proportion of is connected to the “full GPS control”. Clarification is required in order to make this clearer for both the trade and farmers.
The measures as whole have been welcomed by all the stake holders in the tillage sector. A minimum of 15ha under cereals is required to qualify for the scheme, with a pool of €26m available for all eligible farmers.
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