The ceiling of investment for pig farmers under the coming Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS), is set to be increased to €500,000 this year.
That’s according to Minister of State Martin Heydon, who said that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is proposing to more than double the current ceiling of €200,000.
The minister addressed a national meeting of pig farmer members of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) in Dublin today (Thursday, February 9).
In his speech, Minister Heydon said that the increased ceiling would help pig farmers plan for the future when the current challenges in the sector are resolved.
Pig support
The minister is the chairperson of the Pig Roundtable, a body of pig sector stakeholders that includes farmer and processing sector representatives, Teagasc, Bord Bia, and the DAFM.
He also confirmed that some applications to the Pig Exceptional Payment Scheme (PEPS) have been deemed to be ineligible under the scheme’s conditions.
The PEPS scheme had two roll-out periods (known as PEPS 1 and PEPS 2), and were established in response to the serious challenges that emerged in the pig sector early last year and which have persisted – though abated – since.
PEPS 1 was announced in February last year, and was funded by €7 million in exchequer funding. Qualifying farmers could receive payments of up to €20,000.
This was bolstered by PEPS 2, announced in June, which was funded by €13 million out EU crisis reserve funds. Farmers could receive up to €100,000 under PEPS 2.
However, not all farmers who applied for the scheme met the conditionality, according to Minster Heydon.
The minister said that, although the majority of farmers in the scheme have now been paid, a number of applications were deemed ineligible for not meeting the scheme terms and conditions.
The terms and conditions include stipulations that the applicant fulfill the following measures:
- Remain in pig farming until April 30, 2023;
- Reduce breeding pig numbers by 10% in the herd to which payment applies, as compared to the National Pig Census 2021 return for that herd;
- Provide a self-declaration before December 31, 2022 of this reduction;
- Maintain that reduction from the date the declaration is received for four subsequent consecutive months.
Minister Heydon acknowledged that there is significant hardship for those pig farmers deemed ineligible for the scheme, but that the department is obliged to comply with the terms and conditions as the funding is subject to EU audit.
He also said that a number of applicants have availed of the scheme’s appeals process, with at least one applicant appealing successfully so far.
On the markets front, Minister Heydon said that work on market access to Thailand for Irish pigmeat is being progressed, and that he hoped there would be developments in gaining access to that market this year.