Advance payments to the tune of €30 m have commenced issuing to over 67,000 eligible farmers under the 2023 Fodder Support Scheme, the DAFM has confirmed today (Monday, December 19th, 2022).
That is according to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, who confirmed that each farmer will receive an advance payment of 57% of their total payment due in 2023.
The DAFM will issue the balancing payments in Quarter 4 in 2023.
The 2023 scheme is a continuance of the 2022 Fodder Support Scheme and aims to incentivise, in particular, drystock farmers, to grow fodder (silage and/or hay) in 2023 to ensure the maximum amount of cattle and sheep feed is grown.
The maximum area eligible for payment under the scheme is 10 hectares, with a potential maximum payment of €1,000.
Successful applicants for the 2022 Fodder Support Scheme were eligible to apply for the 2023 Scheme.
2023 Fodder Scheme
In a statement, the minister said: “These payments, along with the 2022 Fodder Support Scheme payments issued in recent weeks, will further assist farmers in dealing with the increase in agricultural input costs, in particular for chemical fertiliser, and the impact that will have on the quantity of fodder produced and conserved next year.”
“The initial budget for the Fodder Support Scheme is €30 million, with an overall payment rate of up to €100/ha.”
“I have stated previously that I will continue to monitor the situation around the price of agricultural inputs into 2023 and, in the event that they remain high, I will be seeking additional funding for this scheme.”
As part of the 2023 Fodder Support Scheme, applicants agreed to the terms and conditions of the scheme, which “clearly state” that where an applicant fails to deliver some or all of the scheme requirements in 2023, recoupment of some or all of the monies already paid will apply.
Applicants, he added, “need to be mindful of this” when cutting silage and/or hay in 2023 on the areas declared in the 2023 Fodder Support Scheme.
Applicants will have an opportunity to amend the area declared for the 2023 Fodder Support Scheme when the scheme’s online system reopens in the period of May/June 2023.
Where the scheme is oversubscribed, the payment rate per hectare will be less than €100 per hectare.
In this scenario, the department will reduce the payment rate for all hectares or maintain the rate of €100 per hectare on the first few hectares and reduce it on the latter hectares.
Total payments:
County Total
- Carlow: 962
- Cavan: 2885
- Clare: 3932
- Cork: 5689
- Donegal: 3897
- Dublin: 218
- Galway: 6805
- Kerry: 3416
- Kildare: 935
- Kilkenny: 1546
- Laois: 1576
- Leitrim: 2263
- Limerick: 2332
- Longford: 1825
- Louth: 695
- Mayo: 6284
- Meath: 1901
- Monaghan: 2571
- Offaly: 1749
- Roscommon: 4227
- Sligo: 2427
- Tipperary: 3356
- Waterford: 1001
- Westmeath: 1978
- Wexford: 1961
- Wicklow: 1020
Total: 67451
