Total payments issued to date under the 2023 National Liming Programme exceed €7.4 million, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has said.
Over 14,500 claims were submitted under the programme, with advance payments issued to farmers in December 2023. The DAFM said claims continue to be processed.
The date by which lime purchased under the programme must be spread has recently been extended further until Thursday, October 31, due to poor soil trafficability.
The initial deadline for spreading lime had been on October 31, 2023. However, due to wet weather, the deadline has been extended multiple times since then.
Liming payments
Almost all farmers participating in the programme have received an 85% advance payment, while over 6,000 farmers have received their full payment, the DAFM said.
The remaining balancing payments under the programme continue to be processed and will issue in the coming months as lime is spread, according to the DAFM.
As of June, information from quarries estimates that a little over 30% of pre-paid lime has been spread, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue said.
The DAFM did not provide a more recent figure on the amount of lime spread, saying that “information on quantities of pre-paid lime spread to date is still being assessed”.
The National Liming Programme was introduced by the DAFM in spring 2023 to incentivise the use of lime as a natural soil conditioner which corrects soil acidity.