Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) farm business committee chair Pat O’Brien has suggested there is increasing frustration among farmers over the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) rank and selection process.
This follows 60% selection being applied to the the Animal Welfare Nutrient Storage Scheme following a surge in applications in tranche 10 of the scheme.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said he will ensure that the ranking and selection criteria in TAMS will be kept under review.
“We are receiving a huge number of calls from farmers who haven’t got in through this rank and selection process,” O’Brien stated.
“Farmers who worked extremely hard to build up their stock numbers are now left in limbo because they can’t access grant aid for slurry storage, solar and many other investment items.”
Slurry storage applications
In terms of slurry storage applications under TAMS, O’Brien called it a “crazy administrative catch 22”.
“The very farmers who want to build tanks to grant specification so that they will stand the test of time and they also need these tanks so that they can comply with the new storage requirements are the very cohort being penalised under ‘rank and selection’ for their high stocking rate.
“Effectively, we have a system that is telling farmers with these stocking rates that they need extra slurry storage and then in the same breath penalising them and nudging them down the eligibility scorecard because they are at the stocking rate that says they need more slurry storage,” he said.
Time length of application processing
Concerns have also been raised within the ICMSA about the length of time applications are taking to be processed, with O’Brien warning the Department of Agriculture that lessons must be learned from the current TAMS system.
“I don’t know what the point is of going around proclaiming that TAMS is a success when all the evidence proves otherwise. A farmer applying for solar has a one-in-10 chance of success.
“Who could think that a 10% rate could constitute a success and the idea that this amounts to supporting the sector is a bad joke.
“This is the most critical interface between farming and the environment and it’s really disappointing to see the mess that the Department has made here.
‘Total absolute mayhem scheme’
“At farm representative level, it’s widely understood that TAMS really stands for ‘total absolute mayhem scheme’ and that’s a damning indictment on a concept that could have played a crucial role transitioning farming towards a better environmental profile”, he continued.
O’Brien said that the scheme could have played an improved role in advancing Irish farming towards a better environmental profile.
“We’d be happy to work with the Department on getting this scheme someway operational and forward moving if they wanted and the very first thing we’d suggest is the public abandonment of the absurd and impenetrable ‘rank and selection’ system they operate at present and which no one can understand,” he concluded.
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TAMS ranking and selection to be kept under review
Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) farm business committee chair Pat O’Brien has suggested there is increasing frustration among farmers over the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) rank and selection process.
This follows 60% selection being applied to the the Animal Welfare Nutrient Storage Scheme following a surge in applications in tranche 10 of the scheme.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said he will ensure that the ranking and selection criteria in TAMS will be kept under review.
“We are receiving a huge number of calls from farmers who haven’t got in through this rank and selection process,” O’Brien stated.
“Farmers who worked extremely hard to build up their stock numbers are now left in limbo because they can’t access grant aid for slurry storage, solar and many other investment items.”
Slurry storage applications
In terms of slurry storage applications under TAMS, O’Brien called it a “crazy administrative catch 22”.
“The very farmers who want to build tanks to grant specification so that they will stand the test of time and they also need these tanks so that they can comply with the new storage requirements are the very cohort being penalised under ‘rank and selection’ for their high stocking rate.
“Effectively, we have a system that is telling farmers with these stocking rates that they need extra slurry storage and then in the same breath penalising them and nudging them down the eligibility scorecard because they are at the stocking rate that says they need more slurry storage,” he said.
Time length of application processing
Concerns have also been raised within the ICMSA about the length of time applications are taking to be processed, with O’Brien warning the Department of Agriculture that lessons must be learned from the current TAMS system.
“I don’t know what the point is of going around proclaiming that TAMS is a success when all the evidence proves otherwise. A farmer applying for solar has a one-in-10 chance of success.
“Who could think that a 10% rate could constitute a success and the idea that this amounts to supporting the sector is a bad joke.
“This is the most critical interface between farming and the environment and it’s really disappointing to see the mess that the Department has made here.
‘Total absolute mayhem scheme’
“At farm representative level, it’s widely understood that TAMS really stands for ‘total absolute mayhem scheme’ and that’s a damning indictment on a concept that could have played a crucial role transitioning farming towards a better environmental profile”, he continued.
O’Brien said that the scheme could have played an improved role in advancing Irish farming towards a better environmental profile.
“We’d be happy to work with the Department on getting this scheme someway operational and forward moving if they wanted and the very first thing we’d suggest is the public abandonment of the absurd and impenetrable ‘rank and selection’ system they operate at present and which no one can understand,” he concluded.
Read more
TAMS ranking and selection to be kept under review
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