It is now a week since the announcement of budget 2024 by Finance Minister, Michael McGrath. The new budget contained a number of important measures for Irish farmers. Among these measures were provisions for the funding of various agricultural schemes for the year ahead.
Beef and Dairy-Beef Supports
Supports were set out for the sheep and beef sectors, both of which have experienced considerable turbulence in the last year. The budget has set aside €113 million in targeted supports for these sectors.
Funding includes provision of support for suckler farmers to about €200 per cow. While the details of this have yet to be teased out, the payment is expected to be broadly similar to those provided for under 2023 schemes such as the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) and the National Beef Welfare Scheme (NBWS).
News of this funding was accompanied by an announcement, by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on Wednesday, 11th of October, that the National Beef Welfare Scheme will continue in 2024. National funding will be provided for the programme in 2024, marking a shift from 2023, when it was funded through the Brexit Adjustment Reserve.
The budget has allocated €5 million in funding for the National Genotyping Programme, announced earlier in 2023. Like the National Beef Welfare Scheme, this was initially funded by the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, but will receive national funding in 2024. The scheme, which received a good deal of media attention when it was first announced, subsidizes the cost of genotyping herds for dairy and beef farmers.
Funding to the tune of €6.5 million was provided for the dairy beef scheme for 2024. This funding will likely be used for a scheme broadly similar to the National Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme, which farmers availed of in 2023.
Sheep Supports
There was positive news for sheep farmers, too, with support payments expected to increase to €20 per ewe in 2024. This will constitute an improvement of €8 per ewe on the 2023 figure, when farmers received €12 per ewe in payments. While announcing the additional payment for sheep farmers, Minister Charlie McConalogue did not provide details of the measures farmers will have to take in order to receive the additional €8 payment.
The Minister pointed out that the 2024 payment will be the highest ever provided for the “vitally important” sheep sector.
ACRES
The Agri-Climate Rural Environmental Scheme (ACRES) is to receive €200 million in funding for 2024. This represents an increase of €40 million on last year. The additional funding means that 50,000 farmers may participate in the programme under the first 2 tranches in the year ahead. Speaking of this increase in funding, Minister Charlie McConalogue said that “The level of interest in ACRES demonstrated that farmers are clearly making a positive contribution in addressing a range of climate, biodiversity and environmental issues.”
Organic Payments
Funding for the Organic Farming Scheme for the year ahead will be €57 million. Minister McConalogue stressed that the level of funding reflects the extraordinary level of interest in the scheme. Minister for State with responsibility for land use and biodiversity, Pippa Hackett, pointed out that the number of organic farmers has doubled since she took office.
TAMS
Budget 2024 allows for potential changes in some of the measures to be introduced in TAMS 3. The changes will likely be introduced to help farmers improve water quality by investing in on-farm nutrient storage technologies. Such measures will be necessary in the context of the changes to the Nitrates Derogation – a topic that has been a point of contention in the farming community in recent months.
According to Teagasc, changes under TAMS 3 will include “a separate investment ceiling for farmers building additional storage facilities on farm beyond regulatory compliance”. However, this change will be dependent on EU Commission approval.
Forestry Schemes
The budget sets aside €110 million for forestry programmes for the year ahead. This allocation is a portion of the 1.3 billion that has been committed to the Forestry Programme for the period 2023-2027. The new Forestry Programme, previously discussed on this platform, provides strong incentives for farmers to plant portions of their land with a wide range of tree species. Options reflect the diversity of farmer objectives, with provision being made for both small- and large-scale planting options.
Since the publication of Budget 2024, the Department has also announced that farmers affected by Ash Dieback will be supported through the Forestry Programme.
