The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has now approved over 6,800 applications made under tranche 1 of the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3).
The latest data provided by the department shows that an additional 83 applications were cleared in the week up to Friday, April 19.
This means that 6,813 or 83% out of the total 8,203 applications made under tranche 1 have now been approved.
Staff in the department began issuing approvals in December and have been gradually working through applications across the 10 schemes contained in TAMS 3 since.
The latest figures show that 628 applications are still “in progress”, 558 were rejected and 204 have been withdrawn.
The following table provides an update on the current status of applications made across the 10 TAMS 3 schemes:
Scheme Applications Rejected Withdrawn In progress Approved Animal Welfare Nutrient Storage Scheme 2,494 168 71 285 1,970 Dairy Equipment Scheme 235 19 3 19 194 Farm Safety Capital Investment Scheme 2,050 218 53 84 1,695 Low Emission Slurry Spreading 551 4 11 0 536 Organic Capital Investment Scheme 928 35 20 35 838 Pig & Poultry Investment Scheme 49 0 0 2 47 Solar Capital Investment Scheme 751 57 14 100 586 Tillage Capital Investment Scheme 445 28 17 6 394 Women Farmer Capital Investment Scheme 259 20 7 46 186 Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme 441 15 8 51 367 Total 8,203 558 204 628 6,813
Last week, an additional 30 applications were given the green light under the Animal Welfare Nutrient Storage Scheme.
1,970 out of 2,494 applications made for this scheme have now been approved, 168 rejected and 71 withdrawn. A further 285 applications are still awaiting a decision.
The data shows that 19 more applications were cleared for the Farm Safety Capital Investment Scheme (FSCIP), meaning that 1,695 out of 2,050 applications now being approved.
The department has rejected 218 FSCIP applications, making it the scheme with the highest number of rejections to date.
100 of the 715 applications made by farmers for the Solar Capital Investment Scheme are still in the system. 586 applications have been approved, 51 rejected and 14 withdrawn.
TAMS
There were no further applications approved last week for the Tillage Capital Investment Scheme (TCIS). 394 out of the 445 applications have been cleared, with 6 still in progress.
In response to a recent parliamentary question, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has said that expanding the TCIS would cost the State €120 million.
Sinn Féin spokesperson for agriculture, Claire Kerrane asked the minister about extending the scheme to farmers with less than 15ha of land.
Minister McConalogue said that the total number of farms in Ireland with tillage crops less than 15 hectares amounts to slightly over 10,000 farms.
“Based on the current average grant aid in TAMS of €12,000, this would equate to an additional budget allocation of €120 million, assuming all 10,000 applied for grant aid under the Tillage Capital Investment Scheme.
“With this in mind, I have no plans to widen the eligibility criteria for the scheme at this time,” he said.