Some €250/ha will be available to tillage farmers to grow protein crops, according to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney.

Announcing his decisions on the detail of the Coupled Aid Schemes for Protein Crops and on other aspects of the CAP greening measures, he said that as part of the Agreement on CAP Reform reached during the Irish Presidency, Member States were entitled to use part of their National Ceiling to introduce a coupled aid for protein crops to counteract the huge dependence in the EU on imported protein for use in animal feeds. This is also the case in Ireland.

The Minister already announced that he would be implementing a coupled protein scheme in Ireland. “I am now pleased to confirm that, with effect from 2015, I have set aside €3 million of the National Ceiling for the Coupled Aid. The rate of payment will be €250 per hectare provided the ceiling of €3 million is not exceeded in any scheme-year. The protein crops eligible for aid will peas, beans and sweet lupins”

Referring to the importance of protein crops are a break crop in the context of crop rotation, the Minister said “there is now an incentive for the industry and all relevant stakeholders to grow this sector by developing crop varieties that are best suited for Irish conditions coupled with more stable market outlets”. He added “that a consistent supply of protein, grown in Ireland, would potentially give Irish livestock farmers the opportunity to use more natively produced protein feed and to market their produce in higher value markets.”

In addition, the EU Regulations give Member States the option to select from a listing of areas and features that will be deemed eligible as an Ecological Focus Area (EFA). In selecting those potentially eligible areas and features, which he had decided to implement in Ireland, the Minister said that he “wanted to ensure that features selected where the most beneficial to Irish farmers in meeting their EFA requirement and can also be effectively monitored and control in order to ensure that timely payments could issue to tillage farmers.