Increase to liming programme budget 'not enough' - ICMSA

The budget for the new National Liming Programme, which has been doubled from €8 million to €16 million, is “not enough” to meet demand, one farm organisation has warned today (Thursday, August 17).

Farmers are currently waiting on a letter from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) which will detail their eligible tonnage of lime.

It has been confirmed that eligible applicants to the programme will get approval for up to 40t of lime and farmers have been advised that lime must be purchased and spread no later than October 31, 2023.

According to DAFM a total of 41,000 farmers applied to the new national programme and the average tonnage sought per applicant under the liming programme was just over 111t.

Based on these figures, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) estimates that the budget for the scheme would need to be closer to “at least €72 million” rather than the €16 million where it is currently sitting to meet farmer demand.

Denis Drennan, ICMSA’s deputy president and chairperson of its farm and rural affairs committee, said the organisation has welcomed the increase in the budget for the liming programme.

However, he said because the most a farmer can get approval for is 40t at €16/t, this will result in a maximum payment of €640.

Drennan said: “We look at last year’s figures and we see that farmers used 1.42 million tonnes of lime over the whole year, and we see that thanks to the department’s bizarre timeframe for this year’s liming programme, for the farmers concerned to draw down this very modest payment they will have to spread around 1.6 million tonnes of lime in just the 11-odd weeks between receipt of their letters and the submissions deadline of October 31.”

The ICMSA’s deputy president believes the deadline is “unworkable” while the current budget is “inadequate” and that recent weather patterns have effectively prevented farmers in many parts of the country from spreading lime.