THE Chairperson of West Cork ICMSA, DJ Keohane, has called on Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue to increase eligibility for the ‘Trailing Shoe’ Tams grant to farmers availing of the nitrates derogation.
All individuals who are farming up to 170kgs of nitrogen per hectare before slurry exports are now eligible for the 60% grant for the trailing shoe slurry spreader. Previously, it was believed that farmers would be no longer eligible above 130kgs of nitrogen in 2025.
Mr Keohane, who farms in Timoleague, welcomed the clarification and called on the Minister to extend eligibility for the grant to all farmers given what Mr Keohane called the proven positive environmental benefits if using the ‘trailing shoe’ system and the lack of any legislative obstacle to the extension of grant aid to derogation farmers and those farming over 170kgs of nitrogen per hectare.
‘The ‘trailing shoe” system of low emission slurry spreading has multiple environmental benefits, but it is an extremely expensive piece of equipment for any one individual which also requires a large tractor to operate it effectively,’ he said.
‘It represents a very significant investment for any farmer and realistically a grant towards its purchase is absolutely necessary and completely justified on the basis of delivering a public good – as well as for the farmers,’ said Mr Keohane.
He said the ICMSA opposed the exclusion of farmers from grant aid based on their stocking rate and said many farmers have either lost out on the grant or have been unable to consider investing in the equipment up to now.
He said that the Minister McConalogue’s decision will now mean that farmers up to 170kgs of N can now consider the investment but those over 170kgs are still excluded and ICMSA was urging the Minister to make the grant available to all farmers irrespective of stocking rate and so assist all those farmers wishing to further improve their environmental footprint.
