Costings in the upcoming and highly anticipated On-Farm Capital Investment Scheme (OFCIS) will be revised, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has said.

During a webinar held last night (Wednesday, February 8) by Teagasc on converting beef housing to organic standards, a number of questions came in from farmers on the new Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS), set to be known as the aforementioned OFCIS, which is due to be announced soon.

One question came in about costings in the new scheme and whether or not the DAFM has revised them in the OFCIS.

Teagasc’s organic specialist Joe Kelleher said that, from his understanding, the new TAMS will be opening in the “next month or two”.

In relation to costings, he then said: “We have been told it is in progress at the moment and it is being reviewed.

“Will the costings come up to the actual cost, I don’t know is the short answer, but we would hope that it would go some way in bridging the gap that was there in the previous TAMS.”

Later on in the webinar, Jack Nolan of the DAFM, who wasn’t speaking or presenting during the webinar, replied in the ‘chat box’, said that “yes, there will be revised costings when the OFCIS opens”.

Investment ceiling for organic famers

The webinar last night, as mentioned, was held to inform farmers around the requirements when converting housing for beef cattle, but also for dairy and sheep as well.

In relation to the investment ceiling under the upcoming OFCIS, organic farmers will be eligible for a grant of 60% up to a ceiling of €90,000.