The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) spent around €500,000 on various farm partnership supports in 2023.
The Registered Farm Partnerships (RFPs) programme was introduced by the department to assist in intergenerational transfer, improve efficiency and bring about economies of scale at farm level.
Supports include preferential stock relief; the Collaborative Farming Grant Scheme; and enhanced thresholds for RFPs in some department schemes.
There are currently 3,839 active RFPs, with over 400 new applications received in 2023.
Payments in 2023 under the Collaborative Farming Grant Scheme totalled €388,362.71 to 294 farmers.
The scheme provides financial support aimed at covering part of the legal, advisory and financial services costs of setting up a farm partnership.
Further funding worth €100,000, was provided to Macra for its Land Mobility Service, in which DAFM is a stakeholder.
The match making platform is used for farmers who wish to engage in collaborative working arrangements but who have no readily identifiable collaborator.
It acts as a confidential, brokerage service to find the ideal farmer match through subsidised arrangements for long leases, share farming, and partnerships.
Under the Succession Farm Partnership (SFP) Register, farmers receive an annual income tax break of €5,000 for up to five years.
The farmer commits to transferring a minimum of 80% of the partnership assets to the successor between three and ten years into the agreement.
At present, there are approximately 158 Succession Farm Partnerships in operation.
The Succession Planning Advice Grant opened for applications on September 19, 2023 and closed on December 31, 2023.
The first payments were made to farmers aged over 60 in the first quarter of 2024 for a maximum grant of up to €1,500.
A total of €61,534 was paid in 2024 to 53 farmers to cover the costs for legal and financial advice on succession planning.