Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon has this evening (Friday, October 23) extended the deadline for farmers to confirm records on the National Fertiliser Database to qualify for €46.2 million EU Fertiliser Exceptional Aid.

Farmers must ensure the data in respect of their herd number for the 2025 fertiliser year (September 15, 2024 to September 14, 2025) is accurate and correct.

The deadline for correct data to be recorded has been extended by a week to next Friday, October 30.Making the announcement to extend the deadline Minister Heydon said: “My absolute priority with this €46.2 million scheme is to deliver financial support to farmers without requiring them to submit additional paperwork.

"The scheme is therefore using existing records for 2025 fertiliser year held on the National Fertiliser Database to confirm eligibility for payment and as the basis for calculating payments, there is no separate formal application form to fill out.

"It is important that farmers check their records on the fertiliser database to confirm they are correct."

Fertiliser aid criteria

To qualify for the automatic payment, farmers must meet the following criteria:

Be registered on the National Fertiliser Database (NFD) by the new October 30 deadline;
Have submitted a 2026 Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) application;
Have a minimum chemical fertiliser purchase of 2.5t, up to a maximum payable cap of 100t.

Any farmer who has not already done so should take this extended opportunity to log into MyAgFood portal and verify that their sales and purchase data on the NFD is entirely accurate.

Where a fertiliser purchase is missing, the farmer should contact the fertiliser merchant who supplied the fertiliser in the first instance, as the merchant is responsible for recording and updating the sale on the NFD.Those farmers that have yet to register on the NFD and who wish to be eligible to receive a payment under the scheme must also do so by October 30, 2026.