Rural Development Council Report March 2021

TAMS 

• 3,250 farmers applied for TAMS in Tranche 20, which closed on January 15th.  In addition, approximately 1400 applicants were carried forward from the previous tranche to give an overall application of approximately 4,650 farmers. 
• Approvals of these applications will be made shortly.  Anyone not approved in tranche 20 will be carried into Tranche 21, which closes April 16^th 2021. 

• IFA is insisting that there must be no delay in approvals for tranche 20 as to date the process is too slow. 
• So far in TAMS 36,919 approvals for TAMS have been issued.  
• Payments of €258.5m have been paid out to 19,009 farmers to date. A further 1,000 farmers have lodged payment claims. 
• When the carryover allocation from TAMS 1 is taken into account, €270 has been spent out of the 2014 – 2020 RDP allocation of €395m. 
• In Budget 2021 €80m was secured for TAMS. 

• The amendment to TAMS to increase the investment ceiling for pigs and poultry investment from €80,000 to €200,000 has been passed. 
• For derogation farmers, spreading slurry using Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) equipment is mandatory since April 15^th 2020. Under CAP rules mandatory measures cannot be funded, IFA secured a one-year grace period for derogation farmers and derogation farmers who have approval have one year from the granting of approval to purchase the equipment.  Derogation farmers who applied for LESS equipment in TAMS tranche 20 if successful will receive approval in the coming weeks and have one year for the date of approval to purchase LESS equipment. 
• For farmers farming over 170KgsN/ha and exporting slurry to remain nitrates compliant, spreading slurry using LESS equipment is mandatory from April 15^th 2021. Under CAP rules mandatory measures cannot be funded, a one-year grace period has been secured therefore these farmers will be eligible to receive TAMS equipment until April 2022.  
• At a recent meeting with the dept of Agriculture, IFA also raised the necessity to increase the standard costings as they have not been reviewed for over 2 years. 
• The addition of investments for calf welfare. This means the investments previously available under the Calf Investment Scheme will be included under TAMS now 

• GPS spreaders to be now available for all categories of applicants. Previously these were only available to tillage applicants under the scheme; 

2020 BPS/ANC Schemes 

• The 70% advance BPS payment was made on the 16th October. 122,513 farmers have been paid. 
• ANC payments commenced on 16^th September last. 98,057 farmers have been paid to date, amounting to €245m. 
• IFA has got a commitment that any file that is out for inspection will not hold up payment for BPS or ANC. 
• BPS and ANC 2021 is open for application and closes on May 17^th. 

GLAS  

• Advance GLAS payments commenced on the first week in November which was two weeks ahead of schedule.  
• 47,163 farmers have been paid the advance to date amounting to €168.3m 
• The remaining 15% will be paid in May 2021. 

• 36,000 contracts were due to end in Dec 2020, an extension of the scheme into 2021 was secured and the application process closed on Dec 31^st 2020. 99% of GLAS Participants responded and 96% opted to extend their GLAS contract. 
• IFA raised the issue of where land leases are due to expire and a renewal of the lease is not possible, that flexibility must be given to farmers to move options to another parcel.   
• For derogation farmers spreading slurry using Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) is mandatory since April 15^th 2020.  Under CAP rules mandatory measures cannot be funded therefore farmers who are in nitrates derogation and participate in the GLAS Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) action will not be paid for this action after April 15^th 2020.   
• For farmers farming over 170KgsN/ha and exporting slurry to remain nitrates compliant spreading slurry using LESS is mandatory from April 15^th 2021. Under CAP rules mandatory measures cannot be funded therefore these farmers who participate in the GLAS Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) action will not be paid for this action after April 15^th 2021. 

CAP Transition 

• EU Transitional proposals were passed by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. 
• The transitional arrangements are vital to allow the continuation of various schemes such as BPS, ANC, GLAS, TAMS, BDGP, and Sheep Welfare into 2021 or 2022. 
• The Basic Payment and Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) payments are to be rolled over as part of CAP transition for 2021 and 2022 under the current rules and that payment dates for 2021 will be in line with that of 2020. 

New Results based Pilot Scheme (REPS) 

• The Programme for Government committed €1.5bn from carbon tax to a new REPS-2 Scheme.  That was to be in addition to funding from CAP 
• Scheme proposed to include farmers not currently in GLAS or an agri-environment scheme. 

• IFA are calling for all farmers not currently in an agri-environment scheme who wish to participate to be allowed entry to this scheme 
• It is to be worth €1.5bn over 10 years separate to CAP funds. €79m announced for new agri-environment and other farm support measures, which the new ‘REPS’ scheme will have to share with other schemes in 2021. 
• Included in the €79m is €56m Pillar II CAP funds, with €23 million coming from the carbon tax.   
• Payment rates are unknown at the moment but IFA are calling for a minimum base payment of €10,000 with results-based payments in addition to this base payment. 
• It is to be a two-year pilot for 2021 and 2022 with 2022 being subject to funding, 

• The objectives of the scheme are, 

• Test suitability of model nationally 
• Feasibility for upscaling as part of next AECM scheme 
• Identify training needs 
• To identify barriers to buy-in 

• To raise awareness of biodiversity and ecosystem values 
• Test suitability of the Department’s procedures and systems 
• Test monitoring and evaluation needs 
• To identify control and inspection implications 

• The proposed measure is, 

• Grasslands using a “whole field” approach 
• Three elements – the field, field boundary & the field margin 
• Maintenance and enhancement of existing farm features 

• A summary of the current proposal can be accessed here. 

The proposed new scheme was open for Submissions concerning the design and implementation of the pilot until February 26.  IFA made a submission and all farmers were encouraged to participate. 

EU/COPA Developments on CAP 

• IFA rural development committee is engaging with COPA and the EU commission on various aspects of CAP. 
• Ongoing dialogue with the Department of Agriculture to ensure a case is made to Brussels on changes to GLAS, ANC and TAMS schemes. 

Michael Biggins Chair

Denis Griffin Senior Policy Executive