Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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310. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will introduce financial support for tillage farmers, considering the income crisis currently being faced by the sector due to low grain prices and high costs of production [49329/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I fully recognise the pressures facing the tillage sector due to the challenging market outlook and downward price pressure this season. I attended the tillage grower meeting last Friday evening, where I engaged directly with the farming organisations and their members to directly hear their concerns.

This Government recognises the importance of the tillage sector and wants to grow the area under tillage crops. In recognition of the sector’s importance, my Department has provided significant direct supports to tillage farmers in recent years. The budget for Protein Aid has increased to €10m annually from 2024. Applications for over 66,000 hectares of cereals and oilseed rape straw were submitted for chopping and incorporating in 2025 under the Straw Incorporation Measure. I have committed to paying all farmers who applied under the Scheme. In February this year, I announced €32.4 million of payments under the Tillage and Horticulture Support Scheme, which was Government’s response to the difficult position tillage and horticultural farmers found themselves in due to exceptionally poor weather and continued high input costs last Spring.

The Farming for Water EIP has a budget of €60m to support targeted on-farm additional measures to improve water quality, including establishment of cover crops. This year, almost 1,400 tillage farmers have expressed an interest in establishing cover crops under the EIP. The tillage sector is also being supported under other schemes, including the Tillage Capital Investment Scheme, ACRES and the Organic Farming Scheme.

The Food Vision Tillage Group report identifies opportunities to grow the sector and to further improve its environmental footprint. My Department continues to engage with stakeholders to progress the actions in the report, which will require collaboration and sustained effort from all stakeholders.

The Government remains committed to the sector, and I will continue working with my colleagues across Government to ensure that essential targeted supports are provided where possible given the importance of the sector within the wider agricultural industry.