Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has said that the allocation in Budget 2026 of at least €50 million for tillage is a "starting point" for his intentions for the sector during his tenure as minister.

Yesterday's budget saw the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine allocated €50 million for three tillage sector measures, including the already-in-place Protein Aid Scheme and Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM); and a new 'Tillage Support Scheme'.

The latter measure comes in response to demands from the sector for financial aid in light of serious pressure on farmer margins resulting from low prices and high costs.

Speaking at a press conference today (Wednesday, October 8), the minister said: "This is about identifying where we need that money to go. There are key decisions to be made, and I've asked my officials to carry out some modelling."

While a one-off support payment was made to tillage farmers at the beginning of this year as a result of Budget 2025, Minister Heydon said that the newly announced measure is likely to be more targeted.

He said: "The scheme last year was very broad, it was very simplistic. It was a quick intervention that was needed at the time.

"I think there's merit now at the start of a five-year process where I'm showing a clear commitment to the tillage sector that we design something that we make sure is very targeted...where we're clear about the areas it covers, and what crops are going to be included in that," Minister Heydon added.

These questions will determine what the payment per hectare will be, the minister said.

After department officials carry out modelling on the scheme the minister will speak with farm organisations to "tease out their perspectives on what those final elements are".

"I can't be any clearer here. This is the first of a five-year budget and I've made a very clear commitment to the tillage sector in a budget that has a lot of competing demands and lot constraints," he said.

When asked by Agriland if the new tillage support measure will be repeated in future years, Minister Heydon said: "This is year one of a five-year budget and I think it's a very strong base to work off. My clear commitment is to provide the certainty that tillage farmers have made it clear to me they require."

The minister said that it has been made clear that there are "structural change needed around the value added piece to our tillage sector".

"Farmers made it very clear to me...that financial support is critical for maintaining confidence after three really tough years, where farmers are making key decisions around whether to plough again or to put tillage crops back in the ground again," he added.

"It would be my intention that, as I say, that this is a very good starting point and a clear show of my intentions for the tillage sector over my time in this department," Minister Heydon said.

Speaking to Agriland after the press conference at government buildings this morning, the minister said that the budget allocation for tillage is "a solid base in my first budget of five that I hope to be able to bring in over the lifetime of this government".

He noted that the 'Tillage Support Scheme' component of the sector's €50 million slice for 2025 will be "at least" €30 million.

Outside of the financial aid for the sector, the minister outlined other actions he intends to take for the sector, including adding value to Irish native grains, developing a quality assurance scheme, and reopening the technical file on Irish whiskey production "and seeing what we can do in that space around the use of native grains".

"This is a tight budget. I've a lot of competing demands on it but I was determined to have tillage as a sector that is supported and now what I want to do is sit down with the farm organisations and design that new scheme so we can make sure its targeted at those who need it most," Minister Heydon said.