Multi Species Sward and Red Clover Measure

The initial deadline set of 4 April for applying to the new Multi Species Sward Measure was extended until midnight on Thursday 14 April 2022.

The Department of Agriculture reported that fewer than 900 farmers had applied for the scheme by the afternoon of the closing date, while an additional 500 applicants had started an online application but not submitted it.

The Department has a target of establishing 12,000ha of multispecies swards/red clover swards under the measure and this explains the thought process behind extending the application period. The scheme will provide approved merchants/seed suppliers with a payment of €50 towards the cost of a bag of seed.

Approval letters have started to issue to successful applicants and this process will intensify in the coming weeks

Farmers cannot purchase the seed until they receive approval and must present the approval declaration to the seed supplier. The minimum area which can be submitted is 2ha.

Approval letters have started to issue to successful applicants and this process will intensify in the coming weeks.

New TAMS reference costs

Tranche 26 of the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS II), which opened for applications on 9 April and will close on 1 July 2022, will be based on new reference costs. Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue states that the reference costs will bring about an increase of 5% to 15% compared to the costings used in the last tranche.

The minister also announced that the investment ceiling for works grant aided under the Pig and Poultry Investment Scheme option of TAMS has been lifted from €80,000 to €200,000.

The number of applications submitted in each tranche has slowed recently, due partly to a sharp increase in the cost of materials and also because farmers are forced to apportion a higher percentage of available funds to other escalating input costs, such as fertiliser, concentrates, fuel and seed.

With this in mind, the Department continues to operate a facility where farmers can apply to extend the timeframe to complete works.

The number of applications submitted in each tranche has slowed recently

The Department states: “TAMS extension requests can be submitted to the email address on their approval letter between the 11th and 12th month.

“Extensions before the 11th month of an approval expires may continue to be submitted on the online extension request system.

“All requests must include the required supporting documentation. Extensions cannot be granted to applications where the approval has expired. Claims for incomplete works should not be submitted.”

Organic Farming Scheme

The closing date for the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) has been extended until Friday 22 April 2022.

The initial closing date for the scheme was Friday 8 April 2022 and Minister Pippa Hackett says the two week extension was introduced to afford farmers and their advisers the maximum opportunity to consider applying for the scheme and to get their application submitted.

The minister has been keen to highlight that farmers who join the Organic Farming Scheme now will receive any higher payment rates introduced under the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027.

The Department is looking to attract higher numbers to commit to organic farming and has made a number of changes.

Minister Pippa Hackett says the two week extension was introduced to afford farmers and their advisers the maximum opportunity to consider applying for the scheme

The maximum area paid at the higher rate of payment has been increased from 60ha to 70ha. Farmers entering the scheme can qualify for yearly payments of up to €220/ha during the farm’s conversion phase and €170/ha when in full organic status. The top payment available is in the region of €15,000 per year.

The minimum stocking rate of 0.5 LU/ha previously in place to receive the maximum level of payment has also been reduced to 0.15 LU/ha.

In the last intake to the Organic Farming Scheme, some livestock farmers held off from submitting an application due to a higher ranking being afforded to tillage, dairy and horticulture farmers.

This turned out to be a mistake, with the scheme ending up undersubscribed. It is likely that the same situation could occur again this year and as such, any producer with an interest in joining should submit their application.

Eight day nitrates derogation extension

The deadline for submitting a nitrates derogation has been extended by eight days, with the new deadline of Friday 22 April set.

Reports indicate advisers have been facing significant challenges in getting applications submitted, due in part to issues in submitting applications through the Department’s online facility, and the fact that there is more interest in 2022, as a result of changes in organic nitrogen excretion rates.

Dairy farmers dominate the 6,500 applications submitted in 2022, along with some suckler, beef and sheep farmers.

The deadline for submitting fertiliser accounts for farmers availing of a derogation in 2021 has also been extended to 22 April.

BEEP-S and dairy beef scheme

The closing date for the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme-Sucklers (BEEP-S) and the Dairy Beef Calf Measure is 25 April 2022.

In BEEP-S, there is a potential payment of €90 for the first 10 cow-calf pairs in the herd and up to €80/pair thereafter up to a maximum of 100 head. Mandatory weighing will reap a return of €40/€50 for each weight recorded for calves born between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021.

In BEEP-S, there is a potential payment of €90 for the first 10 cow-calf pairs in the herd

The option of meal feeding or vaccinating calves commanded a payment of €30 per calf, with the final €10 payment triggered through faecal egg testing of suckler cows for liver and rumen fluke.

The core action for the dairy-beef scheme was the weighing of eligible calves, for which there was a payment of €20 per calf up to a maximum of 40 calves or a maximum payment per herd of €800.

Eligible calves were those born on or after 1 January 2021, a male calf of a dairy breed, and/or a male or female calf sired by a beef breed sire born to a dairy breed dam.

Timeline for 2022 scheme deadlines.