Following very difficult weather-related growing and harvesting conditions in Ireland this year, a support package has been announced for the tillage and horticultural sectors by the Minister for Agriculture.
The total fund comes to €9.5m and is sourced from the EU Agriculture Reserve fund. €7.1 million will go to the tillage sector and €2.4m to horticulture.
Tillage growers will be eligible for a €28 payment per hectare of oilseed rape, oats, barley, wheat or rye. The minimum payment will be for 5 hectares, the maximum will be 100 hectares and the payment will be made in January 2024.
Payment to applicants from the horticulture sector will also be made in January.
Applicants will be paid on the number of hectares in production or in the case of mushrooms, on the basis of the weight of mushrooms sold.
Caps on payments per grower will be applied should the scheme be over subscribed.
Speaking as the supports were announced the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said: "I specifically requested support from the EU Agriculture Reserve fund for the tillage and horticulture sectors in light of the significant challenges being faced in 2023.
"The supports are funded from Ireland's allocation under the EU Agricultural Reserve which provides for emergency financial support for agricultural sectors affected by specific problems impacting on the economic viability of agricultural producers.
"Profitability across these sectors in 2023 has been eroded by particularly challenging weather conditions which affected crop yields, reduced output prices and the continued high costs of production," Mr McConalogue said.
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach has said the EU Environment Commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevičius, has indicated he will accept the invitation to visit Ireland, sent by Leo Varadkar and previously by Minister McConalogue, following the announcement that Ireland's upper limit for nitrates derogation was being cut from 250kg of organic manure per hectare to 220.
In a written answer to a Dáil question from Independent Deputy Carol Nolan, Mr Varadkar said he expressed the view in his invitation that a meeting between the Commissioner, the Government and farm sector representatives "would allow for an informative exchange of views on some of the unique features of the Irish farming sector, on the various ways underway to improve water quality in Ireland and on the importance of the derogation Ireland enjoys under the Directive."
The new comes as the final map of the land area where the nitrates limits cut will be applied was published by the Department of Agriculture.
Following "interpretive work" by the Environmental Protection Agency, the final map shows a reduction in the affected land area of 6%.
Water quality in those areas is now "good" even though nitrates concentrations between 2021 and 2022, the period on which the European Commission based its decision to reduce the upper nitrates limit, exceeded acceptable concentrations.
The map is viewable on a farm-by-farm basis on the Department of Agriculture's website and the new nitrates limits will be valid from 1 January, 2024.
