Wexford farmers received the greatest amount of payments under the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM), with some €1,452,596 or 14% of all payments going to 344 farmers in the county.

Payments totalling almost €8m have started to issue to farmers across the country under the 2021 scheme, according to Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue.

Approximately 1,800 tillage farmers will have received the payments over the coming days.

Farmers who committed to chopping and incorporating straw from cereal crops (wheat, oats, barley and rye) received €250/ha. Oilseed crops were paid at €150/ha.

Breakdown

Meath farmers were second on the list, with 197 receiving some €1,020,903 for straw incorporation.

On the other end of the scale, only €5,420 was paid out to two farmers in each of Longford and Roscommon.

Counties receiving the highest level of payments and which had the higher numbers of farmers involved in the scheme are found in regions where tillage farming is more common.

Some 76% of the total national payment was issued to farmers in Leinster. Such farmers made almost 75% of the total number of farmers receiving payment.

In contrast, only 15 or 0.85% of the farmers receiving SIM payments were in counties in Connacht.

No farmers received payment in counties Clare, Mayo, Sligo or Leitrim.

Minister Charlie McConalogue said: “This measure is an important support to contribute to the long-term sustainability of the tillage sector.”

Funding for SIM has been made available again for 2022.

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€8m of payments issued to farmers under Straw Incorporation Measure