Concerns are being raised by the tillage sector over the costings for tillage machinery under the new Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes (TAMS 3), according to a TD.
Fine Gael Deputy Colm Burke raised the matter with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue through a recent written parliamentary question.
The Cork North-Central TD asked what action the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) was taking to address “increased concerns” that the pricing structures for TAMS “may not accurately reflect the cost of modern tillage machinery”.
Tillage
In response, Minister Charlie McConalogue said that his department carried out a “comprehensive review” of all costings before launching the latest round of TAMS 3.
He said that this was “to bring the reference costs in line with the receipted costs being submitted”.
“There can be a wide range of costs for a particular piece of tillage equipment depending upon the manufacturer, the model and the specification of the machine.
“As with previous rounds of TAMS, the reference costs for TAMS 3 will be kept under review throughout the lifetime of the scheme to ensure they accurately reflect the cost of purchase of the relevant investment,” the minister said.
The TAMS 3 scheme provides funding for capital investments on farms and will be in place for five years with a budget of €370 million.
There are ten different schemes under TAMS 3 including the Tillage Capital Investment Scheme (TCIS), for which the closing date for Tranche 1 fell on June 30.
There is a range of machinery for tillage farmers in the TAMS 3 suite of schemes, including: Cultivation equipment; seed drills; GPS-controlled fertiliser spreaders and sprayers, in addition to crop storage and handling facilities.
However, the minister previously outlined that inclusion of combine harvesters in the TCIS was not seen as meeting the scheme objectives following analysis carried out for Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan.