Time is running out for farmers who want to apply for the 2023 Fodder Support Scheme (FSS) as applications to the scheme can only be submitted up to midnight tonight (Monday, December 5).
Farmers can apply directly themselves or though an advisor to the €30 million scheme via an online application system.
The FSS is designed to “incentivise” farmers to grow sufficient grass and conserve fodder (silage and/or hay) for the 2023 winter and to ensure Ireland will not have “any animal welfare issues”.
Applicants must agree to cut the hay or silage on the areas declared in the 2023 FSS by September 5, 2023.
However, any farmer who participates in the scheme can also amend the area declared when the scheme reopens again from May to July 2023.
There are an estimated 71,000 eligible farmers who can apply for the 2023 FSS as only farmers who were accepted into the 2022 FSS could reapply for next year’s scheme.
Only farmers with grassland were eligible to apply and no support is being provided to milk suppliers. Tillage land is also not eligible for support.
The maximum area eligible for payment under the scheme is 10ha with a potential maximum payment of €1,000.
Fodder support payments
An advance payment under the FSS 2023 will begin this month with the balance of payment then made in quarter four next year.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, has previously stressed the importance of the scheme against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine which has driven up the costs of key fundamentals for fodder production such as fertiliser, diesel and plastic.
Minister McConalogue said that supporting farming farms during the ongoing period of uncertainty is a key government priority.
He has stressed that price pressures particularly in relation to chemical fertilisers may have an impact on the quantity of fodder produced and conserved next year.