TAMS grants that help farmers purchase low-emission slurry spreading (LESS) equipment should be scrapped, according to the Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI).

Chair Richard White also wants the current payment for GLAS farmers, who hire a farm contractor for LESS spreading, to be made available to all farmers.

This would be a more effective way of reducing emissions of ammonia from agriculture, he says. It would also allow contractors to invest in emerging precision technology which, White said, will be key in reducing ammonia emissions from slurry, manure and fertiliser. This technology is too expensive for smaller farms. However, contractors could spread the cost over a larger number of farms and provide the technology to all farmers in a cost-effective way with skilled operators.

Irish contractors have not invested in higher-technology slurry management machinery to the same extent as their European counterparts, due to the presence of the farmer-focused machinery grant aid in TAMS, White said.

The TAMS money would be better spent on more targeted grants, for increased farm nutrient storage and on more education for farmers on slurry management, he maintained.

About 40% of slurry on Irish farms is not suitable for use with the dribble bar/trailing shoe system, because of how it is managed by farmers.

White made the proposals in a submission by the FCI to the Department of Agriculture on the Draft Code of Good Agricultural Practice for reducing Ammonia Emissions from Agriculture, which the Department is now drawing up.