Minister Heydon announces €1.9 million of payments under the Baling Assistance Payment (BAP)
- Published on: 20 February 2025
- Last updated on: 21 February 2025
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, today announced payments totalling €1.9 million have commenced issuing to farmers under the Baling Assistance Payment (BAP).
The Minister commented:
“The Baling Assistance Payment was introduced in summer 2024, as a once off measure, to support tillage farmers to produce straw for bedding and for fodder during a particularly difficult period of weather. Its establishment allowed farmers who were in the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) to withdraw and enter BAP to ensure we maximised the availability of fodder and bedding nationally."
The Minister added:
“Farmers who chose to withdraw or partially withdraw from SIM and enter BAP will start to receive payments in the coming days. I would encourage any farmers who have yet to provide the required supporting documentation to submit the information to my department to allow final payments to be made."
Concluding, the Minister said:
“To date my department has paid out over €5.6 million in SIM, almost €9.7 million in Protein Aid and €32.4 million under the Tillage and Horticulture Support scheme. These payments are a critical support for tillage and underline the importance of the sector to this government."
Payments will be visible in farmers’ bank accounts in the coming days.
Farmers wishing to contact the department regarding their Baling Assistance Payment, can ring the Direct Payments Helpline at 057-8674422 or by email to tillage@agriculture.gov.ie
Notes
The Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) is a scheme under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) 2023 - 2027. The scheme is designed to provide financial support for tillage farmers to increase soil organic carbon levels by chopping and incorporating straw from cereal crops.
The rate is €250 per hectare for Oats, Wheat, Barley and Rye and a lower rate of €150 for Oilseed Rape straw.
The Baling Assistance Payment was introduced in 2024 as an additional scheme to bolster fodder supplies which ran in tandem with SIM. This payment allowed farmers the flexibility to choose whether to receive funding by chopping straw under SIM or by baling it under the new Baling Assistance Payment. Payment is set at €175 per hectare for SIM eligible parcels withdrawn from the SIM scheme where the straw has been baled.
Not all applications are currently cleared for payment under the Baling Assistance Payment. Regular pay runs will continue in the coming weeks to ensure cleared cases are processed for payment as quickly as possible.
The number of payments and total payments per county are set out below.
| County | Herds | Total |
| Carlow | 84 | €235,063.50 |
| Cavan | 1 | €931.00 |
| Clare | 1 | €3,206.00 |
| Cork | 115 | €272,281.75 |
| Donegal | 6 | €9,315.25 |
| Dublin | 27 | €92,515.50 |
| Galway | 10 | €23,684.50 |
| Kerry | 10 | €21,456.75 |
| Kildare | 54 | €165,709.22 |
| Kilkenny | 38 | €91,854.00 |
| Laois | 30 | €84,666.75 |
| Leitrim | ||
| Limerick | 6 | €14,918.75 |
| Longford | 3 | €4,298.00 |
| Louth | 40 | €83,658.75 |
| Mayo | ||
| Meath | 41 | €105,621.25 |
| Monaghan | 3 | €5,369.00 |
| Offaly | 16 | €34,431.25 |
| Roscommon | ||
| Sligo | ||
| Tipperary | 33 | €87,202.50 |
| Waterford | 10 | €24,032.75 |
| Westmeath | 13 | €28,892.50 |
| Wexford | 183 | €434,045.50 |
| Wicklow | 34 | €87,855.25 |
| 758 | €1,911,009.72 |
Farmers can ring the Helpdesk at 057-8674422. Farmers can also submit any queries they may have online via the Agfood website or by email to tillage@agriculture.gov.ie