Department working towards target to increase tillage area

The Department of Agriculture has told the Irish Farmers Journal that it is still working on meeting the target to increase tillage area to 400,000ha by 2030 that is outlined in the Government’s Climate Action Plan.

This is despite having failed to reach the target of 360,000ha of tillage by 2025. The current tillage area stands at around 344,000ha.

The Department said the “Food Vision tillage group was set up in 2023 to set out a road map for the growth and development of the sector to reach this target”.

It also added that tillage area increased by 7% since 2020. However, most of this increase occurred due to the Tillage Incentive Scheme, which is no longer in place and land has left the sector since it was discontinued.

Target

The Department said it “will continue to work towards achieving this target through (i) implementation of the actions in the Food Vision tillage report and (ii) providing targeted supports to help support the sector”.

The Department also stated that there is ongoing engagement with stakeholders and that the Food Vision tillage group would meet by the end of the year.

However, the Irish Farmers Journal understands that some members of that group have expressed frustration that the group has not met for a number of months amid the current problems in the sector.

A spokesperson for the Department noted: “The commitments made in Budget 2026 are in addition to the significant direct supports that have been provided to tillage farmers in recent years.”

However, the supports fall short of what was requested by farm organisations and the €60m each year for five years outlined in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s election manifestos.