A massive 73,172ha of land under eligible crops have been entered into the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) for 2026.

In total, 3,242 applications were made under the measure, the Department of Agriculture told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The area of land applied for under the SIM for each of the nine eligible crops is detailed below.

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Crop areas applied for in SIM in 2026

  • Spring oats – 8,272ha.
  • Winter oats – 8,337ha.
  • Spring wheat – 1,627ha.
  • Winter wheat – 14,781ha.
  • Rye – 1,209ha.
  • Spring barley – 18,845ha.
  • Winter barley – 5,202ha.
  • Spring oilseed rape – 581ha.
  • Winter oilseed rape – 14,318ha.
  • Total – 73,172ha.

    • It should be noted that some of this land will very likely be taken out of the measure where farmers find sale for the straw before harvest or where ineligible applications are made.

    In 2025, there were 2,954 applications to the measure, equating to 66,482ha of land. However, 228 of those applicants withdrew from the scheme. In total, €8.3m of the €10m budget was paid out in 2025.

    Payments

    Under the scheme, farmers are paid €250/ha for cereal straw and €150/ha for oilseed rape straw. At those figures and at current application numbers, that requires a budget of approximately €16.8m.

    This is well over the €10m budget outlined for the scheme, but last year’s under-spend may help with this.

    Last year, there was also an estimate that the budget would be overspent, but the withdrawals brought the scheme back under budget.

    In 2025, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon announced that the scheme was very popular and he said he made certain the necessary funding was in place.

    Farmers have yet to receive their acceptance letters into the SIM for 2026. At the scheme's creation, it was outlined that ranking and selection would take place where the scheme was oversubscribed, but this has never happened and is not as simple as it sounds.

    Oats and oilseed rape

    The area of oats in the SIM is always relatively high. However, oats area has declined this year by 3,822ha due to a lack of demand for the grain. This has resulted in €955,500 less being needed for oats.

    Meanwhile, oilseed rape area has increased by about 5,731ha. This means about €859,650 more is required for oilseed rape.

    Almost 15,000ha of oilseed rape have been entered into the scheme. This equates to about 80% of the total oilseed rape area and would account for about €2.2m of the budget.

    The increase in oilseed rape area was welcome this year to improve crop rotation, grass weed management and reduce income risks. Many farmers planted the crop with the SIM payments in mind to boost incomes.

    Targets

    The 73,172ha is well ahead of the 2025 figures, but is behind on the 2030 targets outlined under the climate action plan.

    When last outlined in 2024, the aim was to incorporate 85,000ha of straw by 2030, so farmers are on track to meet this target, but this would be unlikely to be met without having the SIM in place.