The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has issued an update on the progress of the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS II) as of January 2018.

According to the department, the TAMS II scheme continues to generate significant interest amongst farmers – with over 12,400 approvals now issued to participants.

Payment claims have been submitted and paid to over 2,500 participants, while over €35.2 million has been paid to date – €5.4 million of which issued in December 2017 alone.

Approvals will continue to issue and payment claims submitted will be paid on an ongoing basis during 2018, the department confirmed.

With over 12,400 approvals issued to date – and just over 3,300 payment claims submitted – over 9,000 farmers have a TAMS II approval for which they have not yet submitted a payment claim, a spokesperson for the department has said.

The department is encouraging all those farmers with outstanding applications to examine their approval letter and to be mindful of when their approval will expire.

Approvals since Tranche 6 are being issued for six months for mobile equipment and 12 months for fixed investments. The closing date for the current tranche has been set as February 23, 2018.

The department also released information regarding the popularity of different equipment in the various measures, along with the most commonly-sought items across the board.

Top 10 Most Popular Investment items across all TAMS II Measures:

  1. Mass concrete tank – square or rectangular tank;
  2. Animal housing – roofed feed passage;
  3. Animal housing – slatted area;
  4. Milking machine – cluster units (new machine or extension);
  5. Milk storage and cooling – internal bulk tank volume (including auto washer and compressor);
  6. Sheep fencing – sheep mesh with one strand of wire;
  7. In-parlour meal feeding system – individual cow meal feeders;
  8. In-parlour meal feeding system – meal troughs;
  9. In-parlour meal feeding system – meal bin;
  10. Sheep fencing – gateway.

Top Five Most Popular Investment Items per Measure:

The Department of Agriculture also provided the top five most sought-after investments for each of the seven measures under the TAMS II scheme, as are listed below.

Animal Welfare, Safety and Nutrient Storage:

  1. Sheep fencing – sheep mesh with one strand of wire;
  2. Mass concrete tank – square or rectangular tank;
  3. Sheep fencing – gateway;
  4. Animal housing – roofed feed passage;
  5. Animal housing – slatted area.

Dairy Equipment Scheme:

  1. Milk storage and cooling – internal bulk tank volume (including auto washer and compressor);
  2. Milking machine – cluster units (new machine or extension);
  3. In-parlour meal feeding system – individual cow meal feeders;
  4. In-parlour meal feeding system – meal troughs;
  5. In-parlour meal feeding system – meal bin.

Low Emission Slurry Spreading:

  1. Mobile slurry tank with attachment – slurry tanker;
  2. Mobile slurry tank with attachment – trailing shoe attachment with macerator;
  3. Mobile slurry tank with attachment – dribble bar spreader attachment;
  4. Retrofit dribble bar to existing tanker – retrofit dribble bar;
  5. Umbilical system – base pump, hose reel and fittings.

Organic Capital Investment Scheme:

  1. Mower;
  2. Loader (front-mounted);
  3. Dung fork;
  4. Dung spreader;
  5. Haybob

Pig and Poultry Investment Scheme:

  1. Medicine dispenser units – fixed in water medicine dispenser for poultry unit;
  2. Energy efficiency upgrade poultry house – energy-efficient lighting for broiler houses;
  3. Energy efficiency upgrade poultry house – indirect heating system;
  4. Disease reduction facilities for existing poultry houses – drinker system for poultry broiler house;
  5. Energy efficiency upgrade poultry house ventilation fans and control system for broiler house.

Tillage Capital Investment Scheme:

  1. Minimum disturbance tillage (PTO driven equipment not permitted) – disc stubble cultivator – mounted;
  2. Pesticide reduction – heavy cambridge roller / furrow press;
  3. GPS machinery control – tractor steering control with minimum 200mm accuracy – retrofit;
  4. Sprayers – trailed sprayer with GPS control;
  5. Minimum disturbance tillage (PTO driven equipment not permitted) – seed broadcaster to mount on cultivator.

Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme:

  1. Mass concrete tank – square or rectangular tank;
  2. Animal housing – roofed feed passage;
  3. Animal housing – slatted area;
  4. Milking machine – cluster units (new machine or extension);
  5. Animal housing – sliding door to feed passage.