Farmers in the tillage industry experienced many serious challenges in 2023 due to high production costs, low prices and difficult weather conditions which affected crop yields. The harvesting of crops was also affected with many growers not completing their harvest because of the wet weather conditions. As a result of these challenges, the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine has announced the commencement of a €14.3 million support package for the tillage sector. This package comprises of €7.147 million secured under the Agricultural Reserve fund in 2023 and this funding will be matched with a 100% top-up of €7.147 million funding from the once-off Ukraine related funding provided in Budget 2024.
The Unharvested Crop Loss Support Scheme was announced by Minister Charlie McConalogue in November 2023 to provide support of €1.67 million to 236 applicants who were eligible under the Scheme due to being unable to harvest their cereal crops at the time. The rate of payment to eligible applicants was €1,000 per hectare. There was a minimum eligible area of 2 hectares and a maximum eligible area of 20 hectares under the scheme.
This additional funding of €12.63m is being made available as a one-off flat-rate payment to over 8,400 growers on the area of oilseed rape, winter and spring barley, wheat, oats and rye declared under the BISS in 2023. This payment will be subject to a maximum of 100ha per applicant. The rate of payment per hectare will be €50 with a minimum eligible area for the flat-rate payment being set at 5ha.
Further information on the payments for tillage farmers can be found here.