Updated reference costs for the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) have been described as "very underwhelming" and a "lost opportunity".

Pat O'Brien, chairperson of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) farm business committee, said that there is "serious disappointment" that TAMS reference costs are not reconnected "to the reality of construction costs".

“We have been calling for updated reference costs for well over a year," O'Brien said.

"We know that farmers have been delaying investments because the old figures were completely out of line and had become effectively disconnected from the real costs involved."

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine published updated reference costs earlier this month.

O'Brien said that while this "very overdue" update is welcome, it is "really disappointing to see glaring shortfalls and gaps that could have been addressed".

"This is a missed opportunity to reconnect what should be a really progressive scheme with reality," he added.

O’Brien is particularly scathing on an "increase in the value placed on a farmer’s own labour", up just 8% to €16.74 an hour, about half of an average hourly labour cost in the construction sector, the ICMSA said.

"That borders on insult. The average hourly labour cost in the construction sector in Q2 of 2025 is €34.22/hour," the association said.

"Farmers are now being told their labour is worth barely half that. As a matter of fact, it would cost more to hire a farm labourer to run the farm while the farmer undertakes construction work."

The ICMSA added that farmers are being "pushed into an ever-tightening web of environmental regulation" while support for vital environmental technologies like LESS "is being reduced".   

The ICMSA said it needs to be known "on what basis this decision was made – has the cost of a slurry tanker actually fallen since the last costings in early 2023?".

The ICMSA said it acknowledges that some of the new reference costs have risen by around 10% from the previous costings, but farmers are telling the association that these still do not reflect the actual charges they face.

"Labour and hire rates have increased massively since the last costings were updated in 2023," O'Brien said.

"We understand the department gathered receipts and did the calculations – but the day-to-day experience on the ground is very different.

"We would like to see how exactly some of these reference costs were arrived at."