Both Bord Bia and Teagasc will see their funding increase for next year, following the announcement of Budget 2023 yesterday (Tuesday, September 27).
Both agencies will see their funding allocation increase by 4% in 2023, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue confirmed today (Wednesday, September 28).
This will see Teagasc’s allocation increase to €158 million, an increase of around €6 million, while Bord Bia’s funding will increase to €55 million, an increase of around €2 million.
Minister of state for new market development and research and development Martin Heydon said today that the funding for Bord Bia has increased from €33 million in 2015.
“That has been reflected in terms of changes in focus on markets and looking to get a better spread and diversification and, in line with Food Vision 2030, looking to access those higher-value markets and hold onto them, ultimately to the betterment and improved income of our food companies and primary producers,” he said.
Minister Heydon commented that Bord Bia “has a key role to play…as we look to deleverage our dependency on the UK market”.
Also today, the minister confirmed that the capital allowance for slurry storage facilities announced in the budget will not apply to shed buildings.
Responding to a question from Agriland at a press conference today, Minister McConalogue said that the capital allowance applies only to slurry storage.
Delivering Budget 2023 yesterday, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said that there would be a time-limited scheme for accelerated capital allowance for the construction of modern slurry storage facilities.
Farmers can claim on 50% of the expenditure over a two-year period, a shorter time scale that capital allowance is typically available for, but at a higher rate than usual.
Although this will only apply to the slurry storage infrastructure, Minister McConalogue highlighted that the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) remains available to farmers to offset the cost of farm buildings.
The agriculture minister also said that the costing references for TAMS would be reviewed to take account of the new 10% levy on concrete products introduced to cover the cost of the scheme to redress the mica defective-concrete-block issue.