The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM) is now accepting applications under the Horticulture Crisis Fund.
The support measure will be provided in the form of a once-off payment to growers who are most affected by the continued high level of input costs.
Eligible crop growers include: Brown mushroom; heated strawberry; field vegetable; field salad crop; apple; vertical farmed greens; and glasshouse high-wire crop.
This is following the recent announcement by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue and Minister of State for land use and biodiversity with special responsibility for horticulture, Pippa Hackett, regarding the distribution of the funds allocated under the EU Agricultural Reserve.
According to DAFM, the support package will help to ensure the short-term security and long-term viability of growers in these sub sectors.
Completed application forms and supporting documentation must be submitted by midnight on Wednesday, November 1.
Payments will be made in January 2024, and eligible applicants will be paid based on the number of hectares in production.
In the case of mushrooms, growers will be paid on the weight in kilograms of mushrooms sold.
To receive the Horticulture Crisis Fund, growers must have a turnover of €50,000 or more and a minimum of 3ha in production (field vegetables only) to be eligible to apply and will need to provide production data as part of their application for support.
Caps on payments per grower will be applied should the scheme be oversubscribed.
Further information, along with the scheme terms and conditions, and the application form can be found on DAFM’s website.