The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine said today (Thursday, February 8) at the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) conference that “farmers can go ahead in full confidence” with machinery purchases.
Minister Charlie McConalogue told FTMTA members that this is because the vast majority of mobile only applications in tranche 1 of the Targeted Agricultural Mechanisation Scheme (TAMS 3) have already been approved.
“Any farmer who was holding off on purchasing machinery should now have their written approval and so can go ahead in full confidence with their planned purchases.
“To speed up the process, I put in place a system that once a farmer submitted an application for eligible mobile equipment, they could go ahead with the purchase, even before they have written approval,” Minister McConalogue said.
He said this also applied to farmers that submitted applications with only mobile equipment under tranche 2 of the schemes, which closed for applications last month.
“As with tranche 1, approximately 50% of all applications had only mobile investments, so these farmers can proceed with the proposed purchases,” Minister McConalogue told the FTMTA conference.
FTMTA conference
Particular, reference was made to Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) systems, over which there was a great deal of debate early last year.
Minister McConalogue pointed out that the decision was made to drop the dribble bar after various tests and trials undertaken by Teagasc indicated that they were not as efficient in cutting down emissions as the trailing shoe.
However, he did not rule out their return to the list once other factors such as maneuverability and working on undulating ground have been further investigated, reminding the room that the TAMS grant had been set at 60% for all LESS equipment across the board.
But, Minister McConalogue also stressed that the inclusion of further investment categories is “dependent on the availability of funding for the TAMS 3 schemes”.
The minister also pointed out that the budget has increased by 50% in TAMS 3 over TAMS 2, and outlined that the way in which it was allocated was also under constant discussion within the department.
He highlighted that in the latest round 60 more items had been added to the list of machines and infrastructure projects that were eligible for grants.
Members of FTMTA were also invited to submit proposals for any machinery which they feel might be suitable candidates for grant aid, in that they move farming forward while taking into account economic and environmental concerns.
One other key issue which was of major important to the audience at today’s conference was fuel prices.
He said that fuel prices are being kept under constant review, suggesting that the suspension of the higher rates may yet be extended and that he was not ruling it out.
The availability of farm credit was also a subject that Minister McConalogue discussed, and he detailed that his department was working on ensuring that finance was available to farmers to buy new equipment and keep the Irish machinery fleet up to date.
Taking a wider view of the present turmoil within agriculture on the continent he said that the Irish government is in constant dialogue with farmers.