As reported by the Irish Farmers Journal this week, the Department of Agriculture has approved 3,271 of the 7,205 applications received since TAMS II opened one year ago.

Macra na Feirme has described the pace of approvals as “catastrophic” and warned of the consequences associated with delays in beginning on-farm work.

“Come winter, construction becomes a lot harder due to inclement weather conditions,” said Macra ag affairs committee chair James Barber. “Poor weather and poor ground conditions will result in farmers needing to construct roadways to allow heavy machinery pass on land with minimal damage. Added costs such as roadways aren’t covered by the TAMS grant.”

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Slurry storage

The young farmers’ organisation highlighted the case of farmers who have expanded their herd and need to build matching slurry storage to comply with nitrates regulations next year.

Of the 1,630 applications received under the Young Farmer Capital Investment section of TAMS II, 654 have received approval so far.

Macra president Sean Finan has called on Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to allocate additional resources for the processing of applications.

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Full coverage: TAMS