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Budget 2024 is set to deliver a €20/ewe and €200/suckler cow payment for farmers, the Irish Farmers Journal can reveal.
For the ewe payment, it remains yet unclear where the funding will come from or the combination of schemes that might deliver the support for sheep farmers.
That said, the move will be good news for farm organisations who, along with Sinn Féin, have called for a farmer payment to support the sheep sector in recent weeks.
Sucklers
The €200/suckler cow payment to be announced on Tuesday is understood to be accounted for in a range of beef schemes, including the SCEP and NBWS.
There will also be a new €8m fund for tillage farmers in Budget 2024, separate to the exceptional aid the sector was assigned from the European Commission in recent weeks.
The payment rates and actions required under the tillage fund are yet to be set out.
The Government will also announce an up to 70% TAMS grant aid for farmers who import slurry to build slurry storage. It is unclear what the requirements will be for farmers to avail of such a TAMS grant, with many of those importing slurry currently spreading it straight away, rather than storing it.
The slurry storage grant is understood to be aimed at mitigating the impact of the nitrates derogation cut. It estimated that about 5,000 farmers export slurry currently.
For more on Budget 2024, see the Irish Farmers Journal in print and online.
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