€10m Tillage Incentive Scheme opens for applications
The scheme aims to provide support to tillage farmers who continue to maintain the current tillage area converted under the 2022 scheme and allow for additional conversion to tillage crops this year.
The €10m Tillage Incentive Scheme 2023 has opened for applications.
The scheme aims to provide support to tillage farmers who continue to maintain the current tillage area converted under the 2022 scheme and allow for additional conversion to tillage crops this year.
It was first introduced last year as a direct result of the impact on Irish agriculture and supply chains arising from the situation in Ukraine and the availability and price of animal feed and fertilisers in Ireland.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said that as the aggression in Ukraine has continued, "so too has the impact on Irish farmers, and therefore I am extending the scheme into 2023".
"The scheme in 2022 was a success with a 6% [over 20,000 hectares] increase in tillage area over 2021," Mr McConalogue said.
"There is an ambition for continued growth of the tillage sector as highlighted in the Food Vision 2030 strategy and more recently in the Climate Action Plan where a target has been set to increase the area under tillage crops to 400,000 hectares by 2030," he added.
The overall budget provides for two rates of payment: a payment of €400 per hectare for area newly converted to tillage in 2023, and a maintenance payment of €200 per hectare for area converted in 2022 and a farmer maintaining their tillage area in 2023.
Farmers wishing to apply for the scheme should do so through agfood.ie before the closing date of July 7.
