Payments to women farmers under the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3) total €17.7 million to date.

This is just under 10% (approximately 9.7%) of the total amount of over €182 million that has been issued to farmers under TAMS 3 as of August 7, figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) show.

There are 11 schemes under TAMS 3, including the Women Farmer Capital Investment Scheme (WFCIS).

The WFCIS "recognises the contribution women make to farming in Ireland and supports further participation of female farmers", DAFM said.

Applications

"A standard grant rate of 40% is provided for all eligible investments in TAMS 3, with an enhanced 60% rate available to women farmers who meet the eligibility criteria under the scheme," a DAFM spokesperson said.

"A total of 3,139 applications have been received under the WFCIS while a further 3,190 applications have been received from women farmers across the other 10 TAMS 3 schemes. 

"To date, a total of 2,283 approvals have issued under the WFCIS while a further 2,350 approvals have issued to women farmers across the other TAMS schemes."

The department said this equates to a total of 4,633 women farmers having received approval to proceed with their investment, amounting to a total grant aid value of €44.1 million.

To date, total grant aid of €12.4 million has issued to farmers under the WFCIS.

A further €5.3 million has issued to female farmers under the other TAMS schemes, resulting in total payments to women farmers of €17.7 million, DAFM said.

Eligibility for WFCIS

The WFCIS is open to farmers who are more than 18 years-of-age and under 67 years-of-age at the date of submitting the application form, and are identified as female on the department’s Corporate Customer Management (CCM) system.

Applicants must own or have leasehold title to the site on which it is proposed to carry out the development.

They must have a minimum of 5ha declared under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) or the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) or equivalent in the year of application or preceding year.

For tillage-related investments, applicants must have a minimum of 15ha of eligible crops or in the case of intensive enterprises, generate a minimum of 20 production units from farming.

A woman farmer can only qualify for one holding or entity under this scheme.

Grant aid is only paid on approved, completed and eligible expenditure and is paid at the rate of 60% up to the applicable maximum investment ceiling of €90,000 per holding.

TAMS schemes

There are 10 other schemes under TAMS 3, all of which female farmers can apply for grant aid under.

Other schemes under TAMS 3 include: the Young Farmer Capital investment Scheme; the Solar Capital Investment Scheme; the Animal Welfare and Nutrient Storage Scheme; the Farm Safety Capital Investment Scheme; and the Dairy Equipment Scheme.