While the payments for the Protein Aid Scheme will not be issued until December 2023, confirmation has been provided by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) regarding certain aspects of the scheme.
The scheme is funded under Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan 2023-2027 and is 100% funded by the EU.
The annual indicative financial allocation for the scheme is €7 million.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue confirmed in the Dáil this week (Tuesday, July 11) that applications under the 2023 Protein Aid Scheme totalled 1,560.
Minister McConalogue also said there were 960 applications made in the scheme year 2022 via the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) online application system.
He said: “Applications under the 2023 scheme were made via the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) online application system.”
This represents a 47.6% increase in the number of applications to the 2023 Protein Aid Scheme since 2022.
The DAFM confirmed to Agriland: “The budget is not split into protein crops (beans, peas and lupins) and protein/cereal mix crop.
“The payment rates for the protein crops and the protein/cereal mix crop will depend on the area payable under the scheme, once administrative checks and validations have been completed.”
These crops, which are nitrogen-fixing, provide important environmental benefits and are also a domestically produced source of protein for animal feed.
Regarding the amount farmers would recieve per hectare, the DAFM has confirmed that “the payment rates will be set before the payments start to issue in December 2023”.
What was also confirmed by DAFM was that “the protein/cereal mix crop will be paid at half the rate of the protein crop rate”.
Protein Aid Scheme
Minister McConalogue announced that through the new CAP Strategic Plan, he secured “an increase in the annual budget of the Protein Aid Scheme from €3 million to €7 million”.
“The successful addition of the Straw Incorporation Measure and the Protein Aid Scheme in the CSP [CAP Strategic Plan] results in a total budget of €85 million for tillage between 2023 and 2027.
“A budget of €35 million over the lifetime of Ireland’s CSP 2023-2027 has been allocated to protein aid,” the minister confirmed.