Some 714 Irish applicants have been paid €9.3m under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme or TAMS II scheme, the Department of Agriculture has confirmed.
In total, some 11,700 farmers have applied to the scheme and, out of these applications, 8,030 have been approved.
In addition, the Department also confirmed that 1,275 applicants have lodged their payment claims and these will be processed on an on-going basis.
TAMS II aims to provide farmers with grant aid to improve and/or build a specific range of farm buildings or purchase equipment that may benefit their farm businesses.
The scheme provides funding to farmers under a number of different sub-schemes.
Farmers need to remember that approval could be automatically withdrawn if they fail to complete the works within the approved timescale. This is six months for grant aid on plant equipment and 12 months for fixed assets.
The latest TAMS II scheme, launched by the Minister for Agriculture in early March, was the Tillage Capital Investment Scheme.
The scheme came into operation on March 8, 2017 and will close for applications on December 31, 2020.
It is jointly funded by the European Union and the national exchequer and the financial allocation for the scheme will top out at €26m.
Under the scheme, grant aid is available for a range of items, including grain stores, GPS machinery controls, sprayers and grain treatment equipment.
For more details on the TAMS II Tillage Scheme click here
A TAMS II Scheme for tillage farmers