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Farmers waiting for updated Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes III (TAMS) reference costs before investing in sheds, machinery or fencing will need to wait another six months before submitting an application for grant aid.
Many investment items under the current TAMS reference costs are out of whack with the current prices farmers are paying for equipment and materials.
The last review of reference costs took place towards the end of 2022 and into 2023.
Department of Agriculture official Kevin McGeever told last week’s Agricultural Consultants’ Association (ACA) AGM that work is under way to assess the actual cost of investment items to update the reference.
McGeever said that September looks like the earliest date that these will kick in for farmers applying to TAMS.
“They are being worked on at the moment and towards the back end of last year into this year, there was a lot of calls for it,” the official stated.
Number crunching
“But we were waiting until we had sufficient claims in to carry out an accurate assessment, but we have that now and work is ongoing.
“It will probably be towards the back end of this year, maybe the September tranche or maybe the next tranche when they’ll be in place.”
Irish Farmers Journal number crunching in 2024 on farm buildings and fencing investments found that farmers were effectively not receiving full grant aid for these investments.
Generators
Last week, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon announced the opening of a mini tranche aimed at helping farmers clean-up after storm Éowyn and leaving them ready to face the fallout of future storms.
It will remain open until 28 March and applications under this tranche will be processed as a priority over the tranche that ended before it.
Standalone diesel generators will be eligible for grant aid under this tranche, as well as chippers, mulchers and stock fencing.
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