€50m grant scheme to modernise dairy farms

A €50m grant scheme has been launched to help dairy farmers expand and modernise their operations — a move which could help position Ireland as the fastest growing dairy producer on the planet over the next decade.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney yesterday invited the country’s 17,000 dairy farmers to apply for up to 40% grant-aid for certain upgrade projects. He unveiled details of the TAMS II Dairy Equipment Scheme package on Tom Walsh’s dairy farm in Kildorrery, near Mitchelstown, Co Cork.

The grants will be targeted at investments in milking machines, milk cooling and storage equipment, water heating and in-parlour feeding systems.

The Irish dairy sector is poised for massive growth following the ending in April of the EU milk quota regime after more than 30 years.

The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has estimated that the ending of quotas could create 9,500 extra jobs in Ireland, and upwards of €1.3bn annual additional export revenue.

“The dairy industry is providing a really, strong, good news and credible growth story for rural Ireland, and rural Cork in particular, which is by far the biggest dairy producing county in the country,” Mr Coveney said.

“The dairy processing sector here has invested just under €1bn with huge projects by Glanbia, Dairygold, Kerry Lakeland, and so on.

“In Cork alone, Dairygold has ploughed €80m into its facilities in Mallow, there has been a €60m investment by Kerry in an infant formula production facility in Charleville, a €40m investment in Fermoy and similar levels of investment in Mitchelstown.

“Irish farmers have already invested about €1bn in dairy expansion and more than two thirds of dairy farmers are planning for expansion at the moment.

“They need capital assistance to do that, and this scheme will provide 40% grant aid for investment up to €80,000 in their farms.”

The stimulus package will also have spin-off benefits in rural communities for those involved in upgrading the farm infrastructure, he added.

The TAMS II package is the second targeted modernisation schemes to be launched under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, co-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

IFA president Eddie Downey welcomed TAMS II which he said will be an important element of the investment needed on dairy farms in the years ahead.

However, he said all other TAMS schemes for other farming types must be opened without further delay.

Mr Coveney said he would be making further announcements in the coming weeks on the launch of the other TAMS schemes, including the new Low Emission Slurry Spreading Scheme.

However, IFA rural development chairman Flor McCarthy said additional items of grant aid should be included in the other grant schemes including sheep fencing, silage slabs and walls, grain storage, underpasses and farm roadways, and slurry and litter storage for grain farms.

He also said the end of August deadline for TAMS I is too restrictive and will have to be extended.

Meanwhile, all applications for TAMS II must be made on-line, either by the farmer or by an advisor authorised to act on his or her behalf.

The online application system will go-live next week, to allow time for farmers and their advisors to familiarise themselves fully with the detail of the new scheme before drawing up applications.

The first tranche of applications will run for three months, closing in early October. The scheme’s terms and conditions are on the department’s website, under the Farmer Schemes and Payments section.