Farmers can expect to see payments under the Fertiliser Exceptional Aid Scheme (FEAS) in December, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed.

The Fertiliser Exceptional Aid Scheme (FEAS) aims to provide support to farmers most impacted by increased input costs resulting from the crisis in the Middle East.

The scheme is funded by an allocation of €15.38 million from the European Commission as part of the EU's fertiliser aid package.

The amount was topped up by 200% by the government bringing the total allocated to the scheme to €46.2 million.

Fertiliser scheme

As previously announced, support provided to farmers under the scheme will be based on fertiliser purchase data recorded on the National Fertiliser Database (NFD), which is maintained by the department.

Farmers were initially given until October 23, 2026 to review their fertiliser purchase records and, where necessary, get correct any inaccuracies.

This deadline was subsequently extended to October 30, 2026 to allow farmers further time to ensure their data was correct.

DAFM is now "analysing the information available from the NFD and the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) system to determine eligibility" and to "calculate payments for those deemed to be eligible".

"When this analysis is complete the number of eligible farmers and the payment amounts per eligible farmer will be finalised

"Until that analysis is complete it is not possible at this stage to give updates on numbers of eligible farmers or average payment per farmer," a department spokesperson told Agriland.

"The payment rate will be €40 per eligible tonne and subject to a maximum eligible tonnage of up to 100 tonnes. Payments are scheduled to commence in December 2026," they added.