Fodder Support Scheme 2022

Base price · 17-06-2022 11:27am #1

The fodder support scheme is now open for applications. Eligible farmers can apply directly or your Ag consultant can apply on their behalf. Log onto Agfood, click on Exceptional Aid Measures and the Fodder Support Scheme is there. The land parcels must been included in this years BPS application.

I've copied and pasted some of the more important points of the scheme for those that cannot download the info.

Base price · 17-06-2022 11:31am

"Low Input Permanent Pastures (LIPP) parcels in GLAS are excluded from support, as these parcels are precluded from being cut as part of the Terms and Conditions of GLAS. Tillage lands are also excluded from support as are ANC Category 1 lands.
Traditional Hay Meadow parcels in GLAS are eligible for support under the FSS."

Base price · 17-06-2022 11:33am

"It is proposed to pay up to €100 per hectare to applicants who grow grass for silage and/or hay in 2022. The Department, as part of the application process, will provide the number of grassland hectares declared in the applicants 2022 BPS application. The applicant must then declare how many hectares of silage and/or hay they will produce in 2022. If more than 10 hectares is declared, the applicant is only eligible for the maximum payment of 10 hectares. The applicant must have sufficient grassland parcels declared in their 2022 BPS application to support the area declared under the Fodder Support Scheme. If a farmer intends to take a second cut of silage, then the farmer must input the number of hectares for a 2nd cut at the time of application on the online form in the requisite space."

Base price · 17-06-2022 11:36am

"Examples

A farmer declared 30 hectares of eligible grassland in their BPS 2022 application, the farmer wishes to use 15 hectares of this to cut & conserve silage. The farmer applies to the Fodder Support Scheme and inputs 15 hectares in the application form. The farmer is eligible to receive payment of up to €100 per hectare on the scheme maximum limit of 10 hectares, amounting to a payment of up to €1,000.

A farmer declared 7 hectares of eligible grassland in their BPS 2022 application, the farmer wishes to use 5 hectares of this to cut & conserve silage. The farmer applies to the Fodder Support Scheme and inputs 5 hectares in the application form. The farmer is eligible to receive payment of up to €100 per hectare on the 5 declared hectares, amounting to a payment of up to €500.

A farmer declared 5 hectares of eligible grassland in their BPS 2022 application, the farmer wishes to use 5 hectares of this to cut & conserve silage but intends to take two cuts of silage from these 5 hectares. The farmer applies to the Fodder Support Scheme and inputs 5 hectares in the application form, and also selects the 2nd cut of silage option and inputs the 5 hectares there again. The farmer is eligible to receive payment of up to €100 per hectare on the first cut of 5 hectares and a payment of up to €100 per hectare on the second cut of 5 hectares, amounting to a payment of up to €1,000."

Base price · 17-06-2022 11:41am

Responsibility of the Applicant

It shall be the responsibility of the applicant to familiarise themselves with the Scheme’s Terms and Conditions and with the consequences for breaches of the scheme.

The approval or payment of aid under the Scheme does not imply the acceptance by the Minister of any responsibility as regards the obligations undertaken by the applicant.

In duly justified cases withdrawals and reductions may be considered if the applicant has not been notified of an issue with their application or notified of an inspection.

Any applicants wishing to withdraw from the scheme or reduce their area will be allowed to do so via email to DirectPaymentsCorrespondence@agriculture.gov.ie or via post to Fodder Support Scheme, Direct Payments Division, Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Government Buildings, Old Abbeyleix Road, Portlaoise, Co Laoise, R32 RPA6.

Applicants cannot amend the area claimed or withdraw from the Scheme after 23.59hrs on the 27th of August 2022.

The applicant must maintain a record to demonstrate the completion of the commitments in this Scheme.

The applicant must retain all receipts, documentation, and other evidence to prove compliance with the commitments of the Scheme.

The record must be made available on request for inspection and administrative checks by the Department.

hopeso · 17-06-2022 12:31pm

Applicants cannot amend the area claimed or withdraw from the Scheme after 23.59hrs on the 27th of August 2022.

I wonder what happens if you apply for ground that you intend to cut after that date, and for some unforeseen reason you end up not cutting it?

Base price · 17-06-2022 12:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119215426#Comment_119215426

Penalties

Penalties will be applied in circumstances where the action has not been completed or has only been partially completed. If the area declared exceeds the area determined, the aid shall be calculated based on the area determined up to a maximum of 10 hectares.

Scenario 1

If the difference between the declared area and the determined area is less than 5%, payment will be based on the area determined. However, if the difference is greater than 2 hectares the penalties as outlined below will be applied, irrespective of whether the difference is less than 5% or not. If the difference between the declared area and the determined area is equal to or less than 0.1 hectares, payment is based on the declared (claimed) area.

Scenario 2

If the difference between the declared area and the determined area is more than either 5% or 2 hectares, but not more than 20% of the area determined, payment will be based on the area determined. In addition, a penalty will apply which will be calculated on the difference between the area declared and the area determined.

Scenario 3

If the difference is more than 20% of the area determined, no aid shall be granted.

Scenario 4

If the difference is more than 50% of the area determined, no aid shall be granted. In addition, a penalty will apply which will be calculated on the difference between the area declared and the area determined.

Any penalty amounts shall be off set against aid payments under any of the payment schemes to which the farmer is entitled in the context of applications he/she lodges in the course of the three calendar years following the calendar year of the finding.

Base price · 17-06-2022 12:44pm

Force Majeure or Exceptional Circumstances

Where an applicant wishes to rely on force majeure/exceptional circumstance, the obligation is on the beneficiary to notify in writing, to the Department, the occurrence of such an event. The notification must be submitted, with relevant evidence to the satisfaction of the Department, within fifteen working days from the date on which the beneficiary or the person entitled through him/her, is in a position of doing so.

Without prejudice to the actual circumstances to be taken into consideration in individual cases the following categories of force majeure/exceptional circumstances may be recognised:

• death of the beneficiary,

• long term professional incapacity of the beneficiary,

• expropriation of all or a large part of the holding if that expropriation could not have been anticipated on the day of lodging the application,

• a severe natural disaster gravely affecting the holding,

• the accidental destruction of livestock buildings on the holding,

• an epizootic or a plant disease affecting part or all of the beneficiary's livestock or crops respectively.

Sugarbowl · 17-06-2022 12:55pm

Thanks for posting that… interesting to read… I take it you can do as many cuts as you want for the 1000 euro? Makes no difference if you do 3 cuts to make up the 10 hectares?

kevthegaff · 17-06-2022 1:05pm

Dairy farmers can't get it?

Danzy · 17-06-2022 1:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119215705#Comment_119215705

No

I says · 17-06-2022 1:17pm

Too many hoops have to be jumped through. The weather is scutter at the minute. For all that hassle for the price of a ton of fert not for me. Tis cheaper graze it with the price of fert, diesel and wrap at the moment.

893bet · 17-06-2022 2:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119215797#Comment_119215797

There are zero hoops for this. Zero.

Name how many hect you are cutting for silage for first or second cut. Have it cut by 5th September. Job done.

Maybe you do summer grazing usually, and make no silage, then yeah. No point. But this is totally free money.

Easten · 17-06-2022 2:40pm

How are they going to police this scheme?

Gman1987 · 17-06-2022 2:49pm

ANC Category one land doesn't qualify, all my ground is Cat one. Unfortunately not for me so.

tractorporn · 17-06-2022 5:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119215629#Comment_119215629

No you can only use two cuts to make up the 10 ha

orchard farm · 17-06-2022 6:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119216332#Comment_119216332

Where can I find out if all my land is cat 1? Is there a map somewhere?

Danzy · 17-06-2022 6:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119217087#Comment_119217087

It's designated as mountain.

Base price · 17-06-2022 7:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119217010#Comment_119217010

I see that there is only an option for two cuts.

kollegeknight · 17-06-2022 9:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119216332#Comment_119216332

How do you know what category is your land?

it my first year applying for bps/anc so I have no previous records to look at.

Base price · 17-06-2022 10:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119217820#Comment_119217820

Best to talk to your parents previous Ag advisor or contact the BPS section - https://www.gov.ie/en/service/f16b22-basic-payment-scheme/#contact

DBK1 · 17-06-2022 10:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119215797#Comment_119215797

This definitely has to be one of the most stupid statements I’ve ever read on here.

There is only 1 hoop, cut your silage before September.

It’s money for buttons, anyone that qualifies for it and doesn’t apply for it is an idiot in my opinion.

Lads spend all year giving out about the price of everything and then when the handiest money you can ever get is being handed to you they want to refuse it. The mind boggles.

DBK1 · 17-06-2022 10:42pm

Thanks to @Base price too for posting all that info. Saves the rest of us from having to search for it👍👍

tanko · 17-06-2022 10:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119217087#Comment_119217087

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119216332#Comment_119216332

If you look at your ANC payment in Financial services on Agfood.ie it tells you what category your land is in. I looked mine up today, all in Category 2.

Base price · 17-06-2022 11:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119215797#Comment_119215797

Ah for fecks sake do yourself a favour and read through the T&C's of the scheme.

I says · 17-06-2022 11:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119218181#Comment_119218181

There’s always a catch.

bogman_bass · 18-06-2022 7:13am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119215797#Comment_119215797

Yer dead right!

*doesnt want the scheme to be oversubscribed

18-06-2022 1:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119216332#Comment_119216332

"Following major concerns outlined by the INHFA that saw Category 1 ANC land excluded from Fodder Aid Scheme we have got confirmation from the Ministers office that this land will now be available. This follows intense INHFA lobbying over the last number of days and we want to thank all those that campaigned on this."

orchard farm · 18-06-2022 8:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119219752#Comment_119219752

That’s great news Thank god

GNWoodd · 18-06-2022 8:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119218111#Comment_119218111

It is up to €1000 per farmer of taxpayers money to be used by the farmer to feed his / her own cattle , cattle that they no longer have to keep to draw down their annual subsidies . There are lads getting up at 6.30 in the morning to pay tax to fund this .

And some people think it isn’t worth the bother !!!!!

High bike · 18-06-2022 8:20pm

Money for jam

Easten · 18-06-2022 10:20pm

56 million divided up between 130,000 farms means that we'd be lucky to see half of the €1000.

idk will it encourage more fodder to be made but as said it is money for jam. Problem is if too much silage is made then unless we get a long winter there will be a lot of it moulding away in the yard next spring. There must be at least a 10k drop in Suckler cow numbers this year and they eat a fair wedge of feed. And the right kick in the stones will be the shortage of Beef cattle next year across Europe as they are on the Cull to a much larger extent due to the high feed prices on top of the high fertilizer prices. They must be somewhat jealous of the amount of free grass that grows here

Base price · 18-06-2022 11:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119218280#Comment_119218280

In fairness I don't see any catches with this scheme the same as I didn't see it with the first BEAM scheme. Having said that there is no such thing as a free lunch 🙄

DBK1 · 18-06-2022 11:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221651#Comment_119221651

Often feed 2 year old silage here and never any waste. Fed a small amount of 3 year old bales here last winter and no waste either.

If your silage is gone mouldy by the second winter your grass was wrong going into the bale. The main reason for that would be too high a DM. DM needs to be about mid 30’s, any more than that is too high if carrying silage for a while.

emaherx · 19-06-2022 6:41am

Doesn't all need to be saved as silage, hay is acceptable for the scheme and a good option for storing surplus fodder long term. (weather permitting to make it of course)

Bass Reeves · 19-06-2022 8:08am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119215797#Comment_119215797

There is only one hoop and 2-3 catches. The only hoop is you have to apply for it. The catches are you must have enough land to justify you claiming 10 HA, if(and I imagine less than 1% will be) inspected you need enough silage in the yard to look like you cut 10 HA. Another catch is that more may apt than there is funding for so payment rate may be reduced.

Every scheme ever introduced has pages of legal paper work. They have to have. But this is the most straight forward scheme and it's retrospective as well🤔

19-06-2022 9:40am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221651#Comment_119221651

129,999, I buy in fodder, can't make it

Neddyusa · 19-06-2022 12:02pm

The only "catch" to add to that is the penalty for overclaiming.

If you claim 10ha, but they say you only cut 8, then you'll actually only get paid for 4ha due to the double-the-difference rule.

So lads need to be very precise with claimed areas, as nobody measures more accurately than Department of Ag! 😉

Also, I'd expect they exclude headlands from areas too?

Siamsa Sessions · 21-06-2022 10:28am

I applied this morning. Seems straightforward - just enter the amount of the silage/hay you have for first cut and second cut.

All depends on how many apply now and how much each applies for.

Whatever way you look at it, it's very unlikely everyone will get €1,000 but you wouldn't think that going by the media coverage and DAFM press releases.

Sugarbowl · 21-06-2022 12:32pm

It will balance off. A lot of suckler farmers around here wouldn’t have 10ha of silage ground even with 2 cuts. So I imagine in proportion it will work out close enough.

there was an agricultural census around last year and if I recall right we put in how much land was grassland and silage… they probably have an idea from the figures on that what we have anyway.