Seanad debates
Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Agriculture Schemes
10:30 am
Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter and I welcome the Minister to the House. I will be brief and concise. This is to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to consider changing the terms and conditions that would allow registered agricultural contractors to apply for TAMS or LESS. The background to this is that these contractors provide employment in rural communities and should be eligible for such grants, subject of course to conditions. The Minister will appreciate the cost of machinery and the fact there is co-operation between neighbouring farmers and contract farmers. People do not always have heavy plant and machinery.
This is an issue registered contractors have raised with me. They believe there should be some support for them. They are not necessarily farm owners, although some are small farm owners, and they are supplementing their income by doing this work.
I will tell the Minister about one Galway contractor who wrote to me. He said he was a registered agricultural contractor, had been in this business for over 40 years and had never received any grants as he did not own a farm. He said that he thought all registered agricultural contractors who provide this service and employment in the local community should be eligible for the same grant. He said also that he had applied for the low emissions slurry spreading equipment scheme, LESS, grant, and it was denied to him because he did not own land but that most of his customers were dependent on him to provide this service.
He talked about having a son who was keen to take on this agricultural contracting business, which is essential and used widely by farmers in their community. He then talked about the whole issue of emissions, the reduction of the carbon footprint, etc. The Minister will be very familiar with the whole story and I am interested in his considered response.
Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the opportunity to provide an update on the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, known as TAMS II, and I thank the Senator for raising this matter. TAMS II is made up of a suite of seven measures providing valuable grant aid to Irish farmers. These measures were launched under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, RDP, and are co-funded under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, EAFRD. Because of this, they are subject to all the provisions of the relevant EU regulations. These regulations specify that TAMS II support be granted to farmers or groups of farmers. It is not therefore possible under the EU regulation for Ireland to amend the terms and conditions to extend the grant aid available under TAMS II to contractors who are not farmers.
There are seven measures available under TAMS II providing grants for capital investment in physical assets. Under the young farmers capital investment scheme, additional support is available for young trained farmers, as they are offered a higher rate of grant aid of 60% compared to the standard rate of 40%. The specific measure being raised by Senator Boyhan is the low emission slurry spreading scheme. Uptake under this measure has been particularly high, with more than 2,500 approvals issued and more than 1,100 applications paid to date. I welcome the high level of uptake under this measure, as it delivers real environmental dividends and is evidence of the willingness of Irish farmers to embrace new technologies that benefit the environment and contribute to climate change mitigation.
The eligibility requirements for the low emission slurry spreading scheme are set out in the terms and conditions and indicate that the scheme is open to farmers who hold a Department identifier and have declared a minimum of 5 ha under the basic payment scheme in the year of application or preceding year, or have a minimum of 60 production units in the case of pig farmers.
To date, total expenditure on LESS equipment is €19 million, of which €6.5 million has been paid to qualifying young farmers. It is open to approved applicants to submit an online payment claim as soon as they are in a position to do so. I urged all approved applicants who have completed their works to submit a payment claim as soon as they are in a position to do so.
Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Minister for his detailed response and I fully understand he cannot amend the whole scheme.However, this goes back to the small farmers and small contractors and to the inter-reliance in communities where people do not have the necessary funding mechanisms to hire plant and machinery. The eligible person has to be a landowner or a farmer, so who is looking out for these guys? The Minister and I are very familiar with a number of small contractors. Where do they fit into all of this? In this whole big conglomerate of the European Union, where is the relevance for local communities? We hear right across the country that farm communities are struggling. Somebody who takes a lease on a piece of machinery and tries to offer services in his or her community, who is bedded down and respected in his or her community, is offering a service. Who is going to financially support and assist that person? Is there any other mechanism through which such a person can apply for funding? What can the Minister do? What reassurance can he give me that he will look at this, particularly in regard to the small contractor?
The person should not have to be a farm owner or be involved in agriculture. We have more graduates and students studying agriculture at the moment who live in cities than ever owned land and, in many cases, they have never been involved in agriculture. We have to acknowledge and recognise there is a new shift and a new interest among people coming into agriculture. Clearly, I will send this to the Irish Farmers' Journal, and other media to say this is the response. This is the Minister's response, which is accurate, and I appreciate the Minister taking the time to do that. However, I would also like to know what support and comfort the Minister can give small contractors.
Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I recognise and value the work done by agricultural contractors in rural Ireland, many of whom are of the land, some of whom have land and qualify for TAMS payments, although a significant cohort do not. I do not undervalue or under-appreciate the contribution of either but I accept that, in some respects, some contractors, by virtue of being both contractors and landowners, have an advantage in terms of their eligibility for grant aid. The dilemma I face is that, under EU regulations, it is not open to me to provide funding to non-farmers under this scheme.
The scheme is critical, as are all of the schemes under TAMS II, but this is particularly so in the context of climate, and we are out in public consultation in the context of the roadmap we envisage for meeting our ambitious targets in the agricultural area. We are also at present engaged in deliberations about what the next Common Agricultural Policy could be, so it may be an opportune time to look at those regulations in that context. I accept personally that, in terms of the scarce resources available to farmers, it is not necessary for every farmer to have low-emissions slurry spreading equipment but it is obligatory, in the context of our ambition, that all farmyard manures would be spread in the most environmentally friendly way possible. Given the capital cost, much of that can be done, and most effectively in financial terms, through contractors.
How we might marry the two issues - the reform of CAP and our climate ambition - is somewhere I see opportunity in terms of using the toolbox that the new CAP can give us to drive that agenda in the most environmentally and financially efficient way. That could include opening the door, if it were possible in the context of the new CAP, although I am not committing to that as it is a deliberative process which we are in consultation about.
I accept this is expensive equipment. It is beyond the reach of many farmers and, in many cases, given the individual farmer's scale, and notwithstanding the period when it is optimum to use the low emissions slurry spreading equipment, it is questionable whether every farmer should be obliged to own it, or whether, through a co-operative purchasing system or through extended the availability of assistance to contractors, there is an optimum solution. It is something we can set our minds to considering in the context of climate and the reform of CAP. However, under the current regulations, as drafted, it is not open to me to consider them under TAMS as currently constructed.