Government's €56 million Fodder Support Scheme to open 'within days'

03/05/22 - Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue speaks to the media ahead of a Government cabinet meeting at Dublin Castle on Tuesday evening. Photo: Damien Storan. 03/05/22 - Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue speaks to the media ahead of a Government cabinet meeting at Dublin Castle on Tuesday evening. Photo: Damien Storan.

The Government's €56 million Fodder Support Scheme to incentivise drystock farmers to grow more fodder is set to open for applications within the next few days.

The scheme aims to incentivise farmers to produce more silage and hay to avoid animal welfare issues this winter and next spring. It comes as recent survey results by Teagasc show that half of all drystock farmers have spread no chemical Nitrogen fertiliser at all on their silage ground this year.

Launching the measure, Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said: “The budget for the Fodder Support Scheme is €56 million with a payment rate of up to €100 per hectare. The scheme will be rolled out as a matter of urgency and I hope there will be strong uptake from farmers.”

However, the measure has been criticised for excluding dairy farmers. 

Tillage land and lands classified as Category 1 land under the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) scheme will also not be eligible for support.

Farmers wishing to apply can do so either themselves or through their advisor up until August 2, 2022. Areas entered for the scheme must be cut and conserved by September 5, 2022.

Minister McConalogue added: “Easing the burden on our farm families as a result of the disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine has been a key priority of mine as Minister as well as the Government. 

"Our response to the increase in agricultural input costs, in particular for chemical fertiliser and the impact that will have on the quantity of fodder produced and conserved for the coming winter, I am delighted to launch the Fodder Support Scheme today. This is a crucial scheme which will assist grow fodder stocks in the country to ensure we have adequate stocks for the winter ahead.”

It's the latest support measure the Minister has put in place for farmers to deal with the impact of the war in Ukraine on input prices. In March, a €12m Tillage Incentive Scheme was launched to encourage the growing of tillage crops as well as Red Clover and Multi-Species Sward. 

Two separate supports packages worth €20m for the pig sector have delivered while a targeted package worth almost €3m has been put in place for the horticulture and veg sector.

The details of the scheme will be notified to the European Commission in accordance with the Temporary Crisis Framework (TCF) and approval of applications under the measure will be subject to Commission decision on the scheme.

The maximum area eligible for payment under the scheme is 10 hectares with a potential maximum payment of €1,000.

Where the scheme is oversubscribed, the payment rate per hectare will be less than €100 per hectare. In this scenario, the Department will reduce the payment rate for all hectares or maintain the rate of €100 per hectare on the first few hectares and reduce it on the latter hectares.

Payments will begin to issue in late November once all administrative, compliance and on-the-spot inspections have been undertaken with all money set to be paid by the end of the year.