Final funding levels for the 2026 Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) should be announced before the end of this week.

This is according to sources within the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

It has been known for some weeks that the number of SIM applications has exceeded the annual funding threshold of €10 million that is available for the measure.

This is on the basis that the entire area submitted receives the recommended funding levels per hectare recommended under SIM.

If this is the case, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, will have to find an additional €6.8 million to cover this requirement.

Other alternatives available to the minister include that of tapering down the payments per hectare available under the 2026 measure or removing specific straw types from the scheme.

But as each day passes, the wiggle room to allow Minister Heydon look at either of these alternatives is fast diminishing.

As the dry spell continues, harvest 2026 is shaping up to be one of the earliest in living memory.

Large numbers of farmers have already chopped significant acreages of barley, wheat, oaten and oilseed rape straw in line with their initial SIM applications.

Countering this trend is the fact that demand for baled straw is now extremely strong, with livestock farmers in many parts of the country fearing they could be looking at fodder shortages next winter.

In light of this, some tillage farmers may decide to withdraw a number of fields for their original SIM application.

SIM

But it is still widely believed that the agriculture minister will have to find more money if he wants to pay in full all the SIM applications that remain in the system.

Up to now, the Straw Incorporation Measure has been hailed as a success by the government in terms of Irish agriculture’s response to climate change.

It is also widely known that Minister Heydon very strongly favours the measure at a personal level.

So, from a political point view, it would make a lot of sense for the minister to come up with the extra monies, which all the farming organisations are demanding, in order to get SIM over the line for 2026.

While the environmental benefits of the measure have been well profiled, tillage farmers also recognise the cash flow benefits it delivers at a time when their overall finances are coming under significant pressure.

The incorporation measure will also be funded in 2027 in line with current Common Agricultural Policy timelines.