Press release
Minister McConalogue announces €8.5 million of payments under the Protein Aid Scheme
From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, today announced payments have commenced issuing to farmers under the Protein Aid scheme.
The Protein Aid scheme supports tillage farmers to establish Nitrogen-fixing crops, which are of huge environmental benefit.
The Minister commented:
“I am glad to confirm that payments totalling €8.5 million have commenced issuing under the 2023 Protein Aid Scheme and will be visible in farmers bank accounts in the coming days.”
The Minister added:
“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. In recognition of these benefits, funding under the Protein Aid Scheme was more than doubled in the current CAP Strategic Plan to provide an increased budget of €35 million over the lifetime of the plan.”
The Minister concluded:
“The Protein Aid Scheme has proven extremely popular with tillage farmers in 2023, seeing a 50% increase in the total hectares sown to Protein Crops over previous years. As a result, I have provided an additional €3 million in funding above the already increased annual budget of €7 million bringing the total Protein Aid budget in 2023, to €10 million.”
Payments will continue to issue to the tillage sector via the Tillage Incentive Scheme and the Straw Incorporation Measure which are due to commence issuing payments in the coming week.
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 2023, €10 million has been set aside for the Protein Aid Scheme, and payments are now commencing for the approximately 1,350 applicants. The rate for this year has been set at €583 per hectare for beans, peas, lupins and soya, with a half rate payment of €291.50 per hectare for the Protein Cereal Mix. It is important to note that payments may take up to 5 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 057-8674422. Farmers can also submit any queries they may have online via www.agfood.ie or by email to protein@agriculture.gov.ie