It appears farm organisations’ and farmers’ calls for reference costs under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS II) have been heard.
Both farm organsiations and farmers have voiced their frustrations on a number of occasions about the need for reference costs to be increased in light of growing farm building costs.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) issued updated reference costs for the popular scheme late last week.
Building reference costs increased by generally up to 10%, with bigger increases seen for other items such as sheep fencing and mobile cattle crushes of 15-20%.
Looking at the updated reference costs, direct constructional work by applicant, or applicant’s family member increased from €13.50 to €14.85 per hour (+10%).
Some of the first items on the list such as concrete walls and floors saw rises of about 10%.
Meanwhile, in terms of animal housing, the reference cost (m²) of a loose house area increased from €128.70 to €141.57.
A slatted house area (again per m²) increased from €178.20 to €196.02, while a solid floor area with cubicles and a slatted and cubicle area over a tank saw increases of roughly 10%.
Reference costs for automatic and robotic scrapers also witnessed an increase of again 10%.
The majority of reference costs for cattle handling facilities saw increases, however, the same can’t be said for sheep handling facilities, with increases only seen for a fixed sheep handling unit with or without a dipping tank.
In terms of the increases in reference costs for cattle handling facilities, the most significant seen was a 20% increase for a mobile cattle crush unit (min 2.0m long).
Sheep fencing saw a rise (for sheep mesh with one strand of wire) of nearly 15%.
Slurry storage and tank covers also saw an increase.
Looking at dairy structures and equipment, reference costs (per m²) for a: milking parlour; dairy; plant room; solid collecting yard; slatted collecting yard; roof over a collecting yard; and walls for a collecting yard all saw increases of about 10%.
To see the full document with all the updated costs, click here.
