Financial supports for tillage farmers need to be "targeted at the cereal grower who needs it the most" according to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Minister Martin Heydon also believes that supports for tillage farmers "need to be much more nuanced".

In addition to this he is of the firm opinion that any finanical support package should be on a "medium to long term" basis in order to provide a level confidence to tillage farmers.

During the Fine Gael Agriculture and Rural Development Conference, which took place in Co. Kildare (Saturday, November 15), Minister Heydon reaffirmed that tillage sector in 2026 will be supported with funding of at least €50 million through the Protein Aid Scheme, the Straw Incorporation Measure and a Tillage Support Scheme.

However he has warned that the additional support payment under the Tillage and Horticulture Support scheme which resulted in €32.4 million of payments last February "was a one off".

"I don't intend the tillage incentive supports to be the same as the last time - that was a very blanket measure for what it was, it was a flat rate payment per hectare," the minister said.

Tillage farmers

However one tillage farmer directly voiced his frustration to the minister during the conference about the increased budget allocation of €85 million for TB in 2026 compared to the funding available for the tillage sector.

"Too much for TB, not enough for grain," he said.

He told Minister Heydon that small tillage farmers are "under pressure" and the supports allocated did not match up to what they wanted to see, particularly against the backdrop of the fact that they are growing "enviromentally friendly crops".

However Minister Heydon defended the multi-million euro allocation in Budget 2026 to the new TB Action Plan.

"I have to manage priorities and it is not about setting one sector against another.

"This is a one off intevention to address TB once and for all - to get those costs down. We have to do that, it is not about pitting the tillage farmer against the beef farmer in anyway. What I fight for at budget time is overall funding streams for each sector in my negotiations with the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure. I don't focus on negotiating a per acre price or a per head of livestock price.

"The lump of money that I secured for tillage, I would have liked it to be more but obviously I had to manage priorities in that space," the minister added.

According to Minister Heydon he now intends to sit down with key stakeholders and farming organisations to discuss the best "design and operation" of finacial supports for tillage farmers.