Tillage farmers will be paid €28/ha (€11.33/ac), up to a maximum of 100ha, under a new scheme announced by the Department of Agriculture.

The tillage and horticulture sectors have been allocated €9.53m in crisis reserve funding.

Some €7.148m will go to tillage and €2.383m to horticulture.

The €28/ha (€11.33/ac) will go to farmers with oilseed rape, winter and spring oats, barley, wheat and rye declared under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability for 2023. That equates to a maximum payment of €2,800.

The minimum area which can be claimed is 5ha, while the maximum is 100ha. The payments are expected to begin in January 2024.

Horticulture

In the horticulture sector, eligible applicants will be paid on the number of hectares in production. Growers must have a turnover of €50,000 or more and a minimum of 3ha in field vegetable production.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConaligue said: "I specifically requested support from the EU agriculture reserve fund for the tillage and horticulture sectors in light of the significant challenges being faced in 2023.

"The supports are funded from Ireland’s allocation under the EU agricultural reserve, which provides for emergency financial support for agricultural sectors affected by specific problems impacting on the economic viability of agricultural producers."

Calls for aid

Numerous farm organisations had called on the Minister to grant exceptional aid to the tillage sector due to high input costs, lower grain prices compared to 2022 and poor weather conditions. Many merchants commented that farmers will struggle to pay their bills.

Tillage farmers have struggled for the entire 2023/2024 season. The winter barley area declined by approximately 20,000ha as farmers failed to get crops in in wet conditions.

A wet spring saw the majority fo spring crops planted in April, while a wet July and September made harvesting difficult.

Yields and prices

Irish Farmers Journal analysis showed that at estimated yields and prices (of €200/t for barley, €215/t for wheat and €282/t for malting barley), the only cereal crop making a profit on rented land (€250/ac) this season was early-sown spring malting barley that made malting grade.

It should be noted that the malting barley price for Boortmalt growers finished below that estimated price at €274.75/t.