The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has said that the sequencing of the slurry storage option in the new Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) is “illogical and unworkable”.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue officially opened the €370 million scheme yesterday (Monday, February 20).
Tranche 1 of the new TAMS will open on Wednesday (February 22) with solar panels on farms being the first available investment.
The other investments, including slurry storage, will become available on a phased basis during Tranche 1 which will close on June 16.
ICMSA
However, ICMSA president, Pat McCormack said that the sequencing of the slurry storage option would “effectively mean that nothing at all could be done this year on one of the most effective areas for environmental improvement”.
McCormack said that improving slurry storage is a top priority when it comes to sustainability in agriculture.
“To be honest, this is the kind of sequencing that just drives farmers mad and makes a mockery of the department’s [of agriculture] own list of priorities.
“We are left with a date for those applications of mid- to late-June, with a decision on approval to be expected in late-August or early September, with the successful farmer-applicant expected to find a contractor and begin the work just as the days get shorter, darker, and wetter,” he said.
“Would it not have made so much more sense to bring forward that sequence so that the approval and construction was possible by that mid-June deadline when the weather and ground conditions would allow for faster and more efficient construction?” he asked.
“Wouldn’t bringing forward that tranche dealing with the slurry storage also coincide with the department’s own prioritisation of improvements in that area?
“The department’s sequencing and timeline on this – something that was entirely within their own control – writes-off the whole year in terms of getting better slurry storage,” the ICMSA president said.
McCormack said that it was “incredibly frustrating” for farmers to have to plead for the obvious and logical sequence to be introduced.
“The minister should intervene on this matter and rearrange the timeline in a way that has the department issuing approvals by mid-June so that the farmers can get the builders, the builders can get the weather and the department gets the slurry storage improvements that are the whole point of the process,” he said.