Farmers now have less than a week to apply for the National Farm Safety Measure 2024 which provides a financial contribution covering 60% of the eligible cost of power take-off (PTO) shaft covers.

Participating farmers will receive a financial contribution for a maximum of four PTO shaft covers. The grant aid will be at a rate of 60% subject to a maximum eligible cost of €100 per PTO shaft cover, excluding VAT.

Participants must submit an expression of interest to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) before purchasing the eligible equipment. Claims for payment must be submitted by Friday, November 1.

Farmers, or their advisor, must complete an expression of interest on agfood.ie by selecting the ’AgSchemes-Expression of Interest’ and then ‘National Farm Safety Measure 2024’ from the dropdown list.

The measure was introduced by the DAFM to incentivise the purchase and use of PTO shaft covers, which protect farmers and machinery operators from serious and fatal injuries.

The DAFM reminds participants of the following conditions:

Participants must have submitted a Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) application in 2024 to be eligible to apply;
Only the PTO shaft cover is eligible for grant aid. The receipt must show the costs of the PTO shaft and the PTO shaft cover separately;
PTO shaft covers must meet the requirements of the European Standards EN 12965:2019, and the CE mark must be clearly visible on the PTO shaft cover;
To qualify for payment for PTO shaft covers, the PTO must be fitted to a PTO-powered agricultural implement under the participant’s control;
Farmers who applied for grant aid under the 2023 measure are also eligible to apply. However, an expression of interest must be submitted for the 2024 measure;
Only PTO shaft covers invoiced and paid for on or after the date of submission of an expression of interest are eligible for the scheme.

Once an expression of interest is submitted online, the status immediately updates to “submitted” which means the applicant is accepted into the measure. A letter of acceptance will not issue.

Payments under the National Farm Safety Measure 2024 will be made for all eligible investments once the claim has been processed, according to the DAFM.