Written answers
Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Agriculture Schemes
Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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142. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide a full list of payments and schemes available under his Department; if the list could include a brief overview of the purpose of each payment and when it is open to applications, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19738/23]
Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Details of a wide range of payment schemes and support measures operated by my Department are available on the Gov.ie website under the following link.
In addition, my Department also provides funding for the following Schemes set out in the attached table.
| Scheme | Overview | Application Open date | Payments available |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agri Food Tourism | Agri-food tourism broadly is the practice of offering an activity or activities in rural areas to visit areas of well-known agricultural produce and to sample and taste the local or regional cuisine or specialties. Agri-food tourism includes a wide variety of activities that involve the links between agriculture and the food produced at the local or regional level. | January - March 2023 | €300,00 pa – max €25,000 per project |
| Food Waste | Funding activities or items that relate to the promotion and/or development of innovative food waste reduction projects which are designed to reduce food waste generated by food businesses, retailers/wholesalers/manufacturers or suppliers in rural areas. | February – March 2023 | €180,000 |
| Social Farming | To further develop and expand the social farming national network and to support the development of best practice social farming model projects. Currently under contract | N/A | €800,000 |
| Rural Female Entrepreneurs | Involves the development and implementation of a tailored programme targeted at nascent entrepreneurial women living in rural areas to address the specific challenges which face female entrepreneurs generally as well as the barriers which can limit entrepreneurial activity in rural areas. Currently under contract | N/A | €250,000 |
| Kerry Cattle Premium Scheme | To promote and encourage Kerry Cattle in Ireland. ( Rare Breed) | 1 May 2023 | €120.00 per eligible animal |
| Equine Technical Support and Equine Breeding Schemes. | The objectives of aid are aimed at supporting improvements in quality equine breeding and also in the infrastructure within which the sport horse sector operate. | 12 April 2023 | Various |
| Non-Thoroughbred Representative Bodies | Grant assistance to the Irish Horse Board in respect of Marketing initiatives to promote the horse Sport sector and to Horse Sport Ireland for breeding initiatives in respect of eligible costs incurred in relation to these activities. | 1 January 2023 | Various |
| Improvements in Cattle Breeding | To assist ICBF in the provision of cattle and sheep breeding services to Irish cattle and sheep farmers. | 1 January 2023 | Various |
| Cattle Breeding | Provide cattle grant assistance to ICBF, in respect of eligible costs incurred in relation to cattle breeding activities. | 1 January 2023 | €1m |
| Rare Breeds Preservation Scheme | The purpose of this grant is to encourage groups initiating projects involving the preservation of rare breeds for all species. | 1 January 2023 | €1,000 |
| Mink Farming Compensation Scheme | Payments in respect of compensation to Mink farming operators following the banning of Fur farming in Ireland. | 1 January 2023 | various |
| National Liming Programme | This programme is to incentivise the use of Lime a natural soil conditioner, which corrects soil acidity by neutralising the acids that are present in the soil. | 15 March – 20 April 2023 | €16 per tonne (subject to a minimum of 10 tonnes and a maximum of 200 tonnes) |
| Soil Sampling Programme | A farm level soil sampling and analysis initiative which will provide farmers and their advisors with comprehensive details about the soil health and soil condition on their farms. These results can be used to target soil management and farming practices to achieve economic and environmental sustainability on their farms. | To be confirmed - | To be confirmed. |
| Genetic Resources Grant Aid Scheme | The Scheme has an annual call for projects aimed at supporting the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources for food and agriculture. Projects are evaluated by an advisory committee, representing broad national stakeholder interests. | Applications are invited in Q4 for consideration for following calendar year | Levels of funding are based on assessment and funding available. Total Funding of approx. €70,000 allocated annually |
| Bovine EID Tag Subsidy Scheme | This scheme was developed to assist farmers in transitioning to the new system of mandatory bovine electronic identification (EID). The scheme subsidises the cost of new white EID tag sets at a rate of €1 per tag set for the first 100 tag sets purchased within the lifetime of the scheme (2022 to 2024 inclusive). | 18 Oct 2021 – 31 Oct 2024 | €4.25m available |
| Brexit Adjustment: Local Authority Marine Infrastructure (BALAMI) Scheme 2022-2023. | The BALAMI Scheme was established to address the impacts of Brexit on the seafood sector. This Scheme is exclusively aimed at coastal local authorities which have eligible projects that meet the criteria set out in the scheme for funding. This scheme is proposed to be funded in the main from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve. Projects to be delivered by the local authority which owns and maintains the relevant marine infrastructure (ie piers, harbours and slipways). The focus of the scheme is on supporting actual capital works and it is a matter for each local authority to progress any preparatory studies, permitting and design works. The Department reimburses the local authority: ·Eligible project costs (pro-rata) on a matured liability basis following inspection of the capital works and verification of the evidenced expenditure. ·At a rate of funding of 95% of the eligible project costs. Up to the maximum scheme contribution approved by the Minister for that specific project | January 2022 | Scheme funding of €55.3 million available for the 164 approved projects |
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