The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), has announced an extension to the deadline by which lime must be spread under the National Liming Programme. All lime purchased under the scheme, can now be spread by Friday 28th June 2024.
This extension was given in recognition of the challenges farmers have faced trying to spread lime with difficult ground conditions. The high levels of rainfall recorded since July 2023 have significantly impacted the ability of soils to tolerate disturbance and therefore farmers have been unable to take machinery onto affected land. The announced extension will give farmers an opportunity to apply lime when ground conditions are more favourable.
The Liming Programme was introduced by DAFM in spring 2023 to incentivise the use of lime as a natural soil conditioner which corrects soil acidity, make nutrients more available for plant uptake and improves overall soil health.
Over 14,500 claims were submitted under the National Liming Programme with advance payments issued to farmers in the final months of 2023. Payments were conditional on the purchase of lime no later than the 7th November 2023 and this lime was spread before the 31st March 2024. This announcement of the extension to the spreading deadline has come as a relief to farmers in many parts of the country.
Farmers have been reminded by DAFM that failure to meet the conditions of the scheme regarding spreading will result in aid already paid being clawed back.
For more information on the National Liming Programme, click here.
