Meal bins have been added as an eligible investment for beef and sheep farmers in the current round of TAMS funding.

The current tranche of TAMS II opened on 8 December and will close on 5 April 2019.

Commenting on the changes, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said: “In response to requests to make meal bins available to all sectors, particularly after the fodder challenges faced by farmers in 2018, I have decided to extend their provision to all sectors with immediate effect.”

2,000 applications

Minister Creed also announced that the approval process for over 2,090 applicants to tranche 12 of TAMS II had begun.

This represents the fourth-highest number of applications for any tranche to date.

The estimated value of these applications is €30.5m.

In all the TAMS II tranches, there have been 22,900 applications, with over €103m paid out to farmers so far.

The weekly payment rate currently averages over €1.2m.

Penalties

In positive news for farmers, the system of penalties for late submission of payment claims has also been revised.

There will now be increased flexibility and graduated penalties introduced for late submission.

Minister Creed said the Department would be in direct contact with farmers affected by these changes in the coming weeks.

Small investments for a beef farm

Meal bins for beef and sheep farmers added to latest TAMS tranche

Along with meal bins now being on the list of eligible investments for farmers, the Minister for Agriculture announced that the approval process has begun for the latest tranche.