Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine announces commencement of Protein Aid Scheme Payments
- Published on: 6 December 2024
- Last updated on: 10 December 2024
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, today announced that payments have begun issuing to farmers under the Protein Aid scheme.
The scheme was introduced to provide support to tillage farmers in establishing Nitrogen-fixing crops, which are of huge environmental benefit in addition to reducing the dependency on imported protein for use in animal feeds.
Minister McConalogue stated:
“We can confirm that payments totalling €9 million have commenced issuing under the 2024 Protein Aid Scheme and will be visible in farmers' bank accounts in the coming days.
“The payment provided under this scheme is an important support for tillage farmers for the growing of protein crops, including beans, peas, lupins and the protein cereal mix crop. These protein crops deliver a range of environmental benefits in addition to reducing our reliance on imported sources of protein for animal feed.
“The Protein Aid Scheme has proven extremely popular with tillage farmers again in 2024, with the total area increasing to over 21,600 hectares."
Payments will continue to issue to the tillage sector via the Straw Incorporation Measure which are due to commence issuing next week. This builds on payments already made under the Tillage Incentive Scheme which were paid in late November.
Notes
The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a partnership between society and agriculture that ensures a stable supply of food, safeguards farmers’ income, protects the environment and keeps rural areas vibrant. EU countries implement the CAP at national level with a tailored CAP Strategic Plan for the period 2023-2027. For more information, visit www.gov.ie/cap.
The Protein Scheme is a voluntary coupled support scheme funded by the EU under Article 33 of EU regulation 2021/2115. Introduced to provide support for the growing of protein crops to counter act the dependence on imported protein for use in animal feeds.
In 2024, €10 million has been set aside for the Protein Aid Scheme, and payments are now commencing for the approximately 1,650 applicants. The rate for this year has been set at €493 per hectare for beans, peas, lupins and soya, with a half rate payment of €246.50 per hectare for the Protein Cereal Mix. It is important to note that payments may take up to five days to reach farmers accounts.
In line with previous years, not all applications are currently cleared for payment under the Protein Aid Scheme. Regular pay runs will continue in the coming weeks to ensure cleared cases are processed for payment as quickly as possible.
Farmers can ring the Helpdesk at 057 867 4422. Farmers can also submit any queries they may have online via www.agfood.ie or by email to Protein@agriculture.gov.ie
The county breakdown is set out below:
| County | Number paid | Amount paid (€) |
| CARLOW | 95 | 527242.33 |
| CAVAN | 5 | 13285.62 |
| CLARE | 1 | 628.58 |
| CORK | 222 | 1159496.59 |
| DONEGAL | 11 | 17996.98 |
| DUBLIN | 76 | 681860.91 |
| GALWAY | 13 | 36767.96 |
| KERRY | 10 | 28735.4 |
| KILDARE | 115 | 835550.97 |
| KILKENNY | 83 | 473426.71 |
| LAOIS | 95 | 442386.2 |
| LIMERICK | 3 | 17745.54 |
| LONGFORD | 4 | 11526.34 |
| LOUTH | 70 | 413966.53 |
| MAYO | 5 | 7317.36 |
| MEATH | 146 | 1379320.38 |
| MONAGHAN | 12 | 22751.67 |
| OFFALY | 71 | 297704.01 |
| ROSCOMMON | 8 | 10873.13 |
| SLIGO | 3 | 2625.23 |
| TIPPERARY | 66 | 345405.44 |
| WATERFORD | 25 | 141677.34 |
| WESTMEATH | 39 | 324913.66 |
| WEXFORD | 280 | 1437476.58 |
| WICKLOW | 68 | 404303.18 |
| Total | 1526 | 9,034,984.64 |