The first five tranches of TAMS III have seen 32,799 applications received by the Department from farmers looking to invest in infrastructure and machinery on their farm. TAMS III was launched in February 2023, with the scheme now approaching two years of being opened. Plagued with IT issues at the start, which delayed approvals by several months, the Department has now steamed ahead with approvals, with tranche 4 applications now being approved.

Tranche 6 of TAMS was meant to open on 9 January, but has been pushed back a further two weeks due to IT issues, yet again.

When it does open, it is hoped that the new slurry storage grant for home produced slurry, which will have a separate ceiling and supposedly relaxed planning laws, will be launched.

Tranches so far

Due to the mix match nature of the tranches, with some lasting over six months, while others have been three months, there is a skewed nature to the number of applications per tranche.

Tranche 2, being the longest-opened tranche, received the highest volume of applications at 9,110.

The most popular scheme in nearly all five tranches so far has been the Farm Safety Capital Investment Scheme (FSCIS), with 9,900 applications submitted by farmers seeking a 60% grant rate on related investments, which include sheep and cattle handling facilities and replacing slats on tanks. This figure represents just over 30% of all TAMS applications.

The Animal Welfare and Nutrient Storage Scheme (AWNSS), which encompasses investments in slurry storage, sheds for livestock and storage, etc, follows closely behind at 8,701 applications (26.5%).

The least popular sub scheme throughout has unsurprisingly been the Pig and Poultry Investment Scheme (PPIS) with just 191 applications in total, while the slimmed down Dairy Equipment Scheme (DES) also witnessed applications fail to broach 1,000 in the first five tranches.