Over €7m announced for farmers with unharvested crops
The farmer stands in his field, which has been destroyed by heavy rain, with his rubber boots in mud up to his ankles. Extreme weather events are increasingly leading to crop failures in agriculture.
An additional €7.1m in state funding to support the tillage sector has been announced.
This additional national support is being made available from the €8m once-off Ukraine-related funding provided in Budget 2024 for the tillage sector.
It represents a 100% top-up to the €7.1m allocated under the EU Agricultural Reserve which was announced in early October.
The decision to supplement the EU Agricultural Reserve allocation was taken because of the difficulties experienced by tillage growers in the 2023 harvest.
"In light of the significant challenges being faced by the tillage sector in 2023, I have approved an additional allocation of €7.1m which will provide critical support for this important sector," Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said.
"The additional funding will be used for a targeted scheme to support tillage growers who were unable to harvest cereal crops due to wet weather in September and October.
"The funding will also provide for an increased payment per hectare to eligible growers on top of the payment that I announced under the EU Agricultural Reserve in October."
The targeted scheme to compensate growers for unharvested crops will be at a rate of €1,000 per hectare.
A minimum eligible area of two hectares and a maximum eligible area of 20 hectares will apply to individual applications under the scheme.
The remaining available budget allocation of €7.1m is being used as a top-up to all eligible recipients of the reserve payment announced by the minister in October.
The targeted Unharvested Crop Support Scheme is now open for applications until November 24.
Payments under the scheme will be made in January 2024.
Irish Farmers' Association national grain chairman Kieran McEvoy has welcomed news of the support payments for growers with unharvested crops.
"Growers will be eligible for up to €20,000 in aid payments for crops which were unable to be harvested due to the very unsettled weather conditions in September and October," Mr McEvoy said.
He added that IFA national grain committee representatives worked to identify growers throughout the country who had unharvested crops, and this national data was then submitted to the Department of Agriculture.
