The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has issued scheme payments to farmers in the last week totalling in the region of €28 million.
The biggest payment up to last Friday (November 8) was in relation to the 2024 National Sheep Welfare Scheme which will see 15,465 farmers receive advance payments worth €14.36 million.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, said last week that he recognised that the payments were “crucial to the sheep sector and farm families up and down this country”.
He also pledged that DAFM “will continue to process, as a matter of urgency, all remaining cases for payment as they meet scheme criteria”.
According to DAFM there were also further payments made under both the 2024 Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and Complimentary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS).
More than €8.4 million was issued to farmers participating in these schemes bringing the total paid out to 114,699 farmers to an estimated €535.01 million.
Scheme payments
Meanwhile more than €2.5 million was also paid to farmers participating in the 2024 Eco-Scheme.
According to DAFM €201.6 million has been issued so far to 112,601 farmers.
Payments also continued under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Schemes (TAMS) with €199,469 paid out under TAMS 2 and €1,836,982 in payments issued under TAMS 3.
The latest breakdown in scheme payments from the department also shows that farmers received advance payments for the 2024 Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) and Areas of Specific Constraint (ASC) worth more than €1.9 million.
This brings the total number of farmers who have received payments, amounting to €203.69 million, to 95,844.
Separately participants in the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) also received €13,775.17 in payments while DAFM said “€0.002 million” was issued to farmers who are part of the Green, Low-carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS).
Fodder
In relation to the Fodder Support Scheme 2023 – which was designed to “incentivise” farmers to grow sufficient grass and conserve fodder (silage and or hay) for the 2023 winter – payments totalling €9,055.00 were also issued.
