Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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480. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is considering allocating funding to address the tillage vision stakeholder group report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17486/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The tillage sector is an important and integral component of the Agri-food industry and is a sector that I want to see grow and develop. That is why I established the Food Vision Tillage Group in May 2023 to set out a road map for the sustainable growth and development of the sector to 400,000 ha by 2030 in line with the targets set out in the Climate Action Plan.

The Group, which was made up of a wide range of stakeholders from across the industry, finalised its report recently and I am currently considering its recommendations. I would like to thank Matt Dempsey, Chairperson of the group and all the stakeholders for their hard work in producing the final report.

I am acutely aware of the challenges being experienced by farmers throughout the country due to the recent and exceptional weather conditions. The past few months have been very challenging for tillage farmers. Thankfully the weather has improved, and tillage farmers are getting an opportunity to sow crops and to catch up on the backlog of work.

To give confidence to tillage farmers to plant crops this year and to give them confidence in the future of their industry, I recently announced a €100/ha payment for every farmer that puts seed in the soil for the harvest year 2024. I am committed to increasing our tillage area and despite the constraints of my existing budget, I will work to deliver this support for tillage farmers.

Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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481. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the supports he is putting in place to address the many issues currently impacting the economic viability of the tillage sector; if he has met with farmer representative groups to discuss these issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17500/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department officials regularly meet farmer representative groups in relation to the issues and challenges being experienced by tillage growers. As well as this engagement, I personally am in contact with the farm organisations directly myself by phone, at meetings and other events regularly and this will continue as long as I am Minister .

I am acutely aware of the challenges being experienced by growers due to the exceptional weather conditions. The past few months have been very challenging for tillage farmers. Thankfully the weather has improved, and tillage farmers are getting an opportunity to sow crops and to catch up on the backlog of work.

To give confidence to tillage farmers to plant crops this year and to give them confidence in the future of their industry, I recently announced a €100/ha payment for every farmer that puts seed in the soil for the harvest year 2024. I am committed to increasing our tillage area and despite the constraints of my existing budget, I will work to deliver this support for tillage farmers.

Significant additional support was provided to the tillage sector last year in light of the challenges that growers faced. Payments under the Protein Aid Scheme totalled over €10.1m. The straw incorporation measure provided €16.5 million for tillage farmers while the Tillage Incentive Scheme provided €8.3 million in expenditure.

Furthermore, I secured €7.147m from the EU Agricultural Reserve to support the tillage sector last year and this was topped up with a further €7.147m in State funding. These funds were paid out in January 2024, to support growers with unharvested crops by way of an Unharvested Crop Support Scheme with the remaining funds being used as a once-off flat rate payment on the area of oilseed rape and cereal crops.

The tillage sector is an important and integral component of the Agri-food industry and is a sector that I want to see grow and develop. That is why I established the Food Vision Tillage Group in May 2023 to set out a road map for the sustainable growth and development of the sector to 400,000 ha by 2030. I recently received the final report from the group, and I am considering its recommendations.