Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue has confirmed that there will be over €700 million in funding for agri-environment initiatives under Budget 2024.
There will also be over €100 million in supports for the beef and sheep sectors as the minister said payments worth €200/cow and €20/ewe have now been secured.
A 70% Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) grant rate for new tanks for those importing slurry has also been confirmed today (Tuesday, October 10).
A new separate TAMS investment ceiling for slurry storage tanks has also been announced, as well as the continued accelerated capital allowances on slurry storage.
Further supports announced by Minister McConalogue are:
- €8 million in targeted support for tillage farmers;
- Key agri-taxation supports secured and land leasing targeted at active farmers;
- Expanding ACRES to accommodate the full 50,000 participants promised under the CSP;
- Schemes for soil sampling and multi-species swards;
- €57 million allocation to support organic farmers;
- €110 million in funding provided to drive ambitions of the Forestry Programme;
- €6.5 million dairy beef scheme;
- €5 million funding for the genotyping programme;
- €8 million for capital investment in the food sector;
- €14.35 million to support the National Strategy for Horticulture.
Research and development funding of more than €22 million and continued support for state agencies supporting Ireland’s agri-food and fisheries sectors has also been announced.
Budget 2024 supports for farmers
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) received a total of €1.942 billion as part of the budget which, the minister said has a “clear focus on protecting farm incomes”.
The funding provided supports the sector’s environmental ambition and on-farm sustainability, while at the same time supporting farmer incomes, Minister McConalogue said.
“Budget 2024 supports farm families as we implement the targeted supports for farmers provided in the largest ever €10 billion Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan (CSP),” he added.
“Budget 2024 demonstrates my unwavering commitment to our beef and sheep farmers. In this context I am pleased to announce that I have provided targeted supports of more than €113 million for the livestock sectors.
“I will continue to provide the €200/cow payment delivered in 2023. In addition, I intend to provide an additional payment for sheep farmers which, together with the current Sheep Welfare Scheme payments, will result in a payment equivalent to €20/ewe in 2024.
“This will be the highest payment ever provided to our vitally important sheep sector,” Minister McConalogue said.
The 2024 figure allocated to the DAFM adjusts to reflect the discontinuation of over €240 million in Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) funding, as the deadline for all of this expenditure is December 2023.
BAR funding was predominantly expended in the fisheries sector but also supported the genotyping programme and the National Beef Welfare Scheme in 2023, which are now being continued using national funding.