Increasing the payable area under the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) would require an amendment to Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan.
This was confirmed by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue, in response to a recent parliamentary question from Sinn Féin TD Claire Kerrane.
Kerrane, the party’s spokesperson on agriculture, asked the minister what the estimated cost would be of expanding SIM to allow participants to receive payment on a maximum of 60ha (as opposed to the current maximum of 40ha).
In his response, the minister said that such a move would not incur any additional cost, as the scheme’s budget is fixed at €50 million over five years, with an indicative annual budget of €10 million.
Instead of the budget increasing in such a scenario, less participants would be considered eligible in order to keep the scheme within budget, the minister said.
Commenting on the process that would be followed if the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine sought to increase the maximum payable area, Minister McConalogue said that the department would have to seek an amendment to the CAP Strategic Plan.
“As part of that process, a significant and in-depth evaluation would be required to determine the number of potential applicants, the impact to the targeted environmental objectives as set out in the CSP (CAP Strategic Plan), and the impact on the volume of straw available for feed and bedding,” the minister told Kerrane.
He said that, if such an amendment was approved by Europe, the increase in maximum payable area would not add to the overall cost of the scheme as the budget is fixed at €50 million.
Minister McConalogue went on to explain that, where the total area claimed (regardless of maximum payable area) exceeds the total indicative annual budget, ranking and selection applies and farmers with certain crops would be excluded.
“Farmers with only certain crops, for example, oilseed rape, would be unlikely to be eligible for the scheme as the funding would be firstly assigned to applicants in higher tiers, for example those with oaten straw,” the minister said.
In 2023, 538 farmers submitted a claim for SIM in excess of the 40ha maximum.
Minister McConalogue said that, if the maximum were to be raised to 60ha, around an extra €650,000 would be needed on top of the indicative annual allocation of €10 million to cover this increase, if all hectares claimed on were eligible.
This, however, would be taken out of the overall budget of €50 million over five years, reducing the amount of monies available in future years.
The department has previously said that any change to the budgetary allocation for the SIM is subject to the national annual budgetary process.
Budget 2024 will be announced next month. However, no clear details on any specific changes in funding for farmer schemes have emerged yet.