Under the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), due to come into effect from 2023, there will be a €250m per year allocation under the Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) scheme, €260m for a new suckler carbon efficiency scheme and €25m for a dairy beef welfare programme.

A range of farm schemes worth a total of €9.8bn, which will run from 2023 to 2027, were announced by Government on Wednesday morning.

The new suckler scheme will replace the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP).

There will be €256m in total allocated to organics, €100m for a sheep improvement scheme and €7m per annum for the Protein Aid Scheme – an increase of €4m.

A total of €300m has been allocated to the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes (TAMS) in the next CAP.

For young farmers, the Mininster said he intends "to allocate 3% of the value of the Pillar 1 budget for interventions for young farmers on an annual basis."

A total of €50m has been allocated to the Straw Incorportation Measure and €71.1m to KT over the lifetime of the next CAP.

Front-loaded payments

The rate for the Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS) payment, also known as front-loading, has been set at 10%. This will apply on the first 30ha of every farm, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said.

There will be 85% convergence from 2023 and eco-schemes will be set at 25% of the direct payment envelope.

Payments will be capped at €66,000.

Details of a new agri-environmental scheme to cater for 50,000 farmers have also been announced.

Co-financing

There will be 60% national co-financing of schemes, this compares to 47% under the last CAP, and this includes the €1.5bn in carbon tax receipts.

Greener farming

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said the investment of €2.3bn of national funding in rural development measures over the 2023-2027 period "emphatically demonstrates" the Government’s continuing commitment to farmers, to rural areas and to the rural economy.

"It also demonstrates my own, and this Government’s, determination to follow through on commitments made in the Programme for Government, for example in relation to the allocation of carbon tax funding to a flagship agri-environment and climate measure to encourage farmers to farm in a greener and more sustainable way, and in relation to the alignment of Ireland’s organic farming area with the current EU average.

"It is an enormous vote of confidence in the sector’s ability to meet the considerable challenges it faces, and to secure an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future, for farming families and for society more widely," he said.

Farm families

Minister McConalogue said the funding announcement is a real commitment to our farm families.

"It will support our farmers in doing what they do best – produce top class, world famous food while helping them make a real impact in meeting our climate ambitions.

"Farm income and environmental sustainability is at the centre of everything I believe in and I know farmers will recognise the range of supports put in place."

Stay up to date with all announcements on farmersjournal.ie and see the Irish Farmers Journal this week for the full details of the schemes and analysis.