In announcing payments under the 2022 Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM), Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said: “Based on its success since its introduction, I have decided to include the Straw Incorporation Measure in Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan, with a commitment to run an annual scheme for the next five years.”

The scheme is indeed popular with tillage farmers with 2,500 applications received in 2022, up 550 on 2021 levels while the area of ground entered increased by almost 14,000ha to reach 52,480ha. There was in the region of €11m paid to approximately 2,450 farmers in 2022 with a slightly lower annual budget of €10m allocated under CAP.

It is envisaged that the scheme will operate similar to the current scheme, with the exception of the funding source. Payment is proposed at a rate of €250/ha for cereal crops (barley, wheat, oats, rye) and €150/ha for oilseed rape.

Chopping straw

The lower payment for oilseed rape is due to its lower market value representing a lower opportunity cost for refraining from removing and selling straw. The minimum area for payment is 5ha and the maximum area is 40ha.

Aim of the scheme

CAP documents outline that the purpose of the SIM is to encourage tillage farmers to increase soil organic carbon levels by chopping and incorporating straw from cereal crops and oilseed rape. “The incorporation of straw will also have positive impact on soil biology, soil workability and increasing organic matter will improve drought resilience by increasing water holding capacity.”

In addition to improving soil health, the Department outlines that this practice will also sequester carbon in tillage soils and in turn offset greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improving the environmental sustainability of the tillage sector while also contributing to Ireland’s GHG reduction targets.

Proposed structure

As mentioned previously, the measure will be similar to the current scheme, with straw chopped following harvesting of the crop and spread evenly across the surface. This can be carried out via a straw chopper and spreading mechanism on the combine or with straw chopping equipment.

The straw is then required to be incorporated in to the soil by a shallow cultivator such as a disc harrow for example.

In the previous scheme the aim was to incorporate the straw as soon as possible post-harvest but no timelines are confirmed.

The SIM will run for five years but applicants will partake through a one-year contract with automatic renewal. Where farmers want to leave the measure they must opt out.

Application process

The minimum area on which farmers can apply is 5ha. The application process will be carried out online via agfood.ie along with the submission of a farmer’s Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) application. In the current system once a farmer applied for a minimum of 5ha, the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) application system presented an applicant with a SIM screen.

A box was then ticked beside each parcel you wished to include. The area applied for could be made up in multiple parcels, subdivisions or plots but remember the entire area within these must be chopped. In the case of the scheme being oversubscribed, a ranking and selection process will be used unless additional funding is provided as was the case in 2022. There was a small window to amend applications in the previous schemes but farmers should note that any area applied for in excess of 40ha will also have to satisfy scheme requirements. Further information and confirmation of terms and conditions is set to be released in the coming weeks.