Further details regarding the Government’s Fertiliser Exceptional Aid Scheme have been disclosed by Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon.
The €46.2 million scheme, which is part of Budget 2027, is designed to assist farmers dealing with the higher fertiliser costs that have arisen due to ongoing international instability.
“The continuing volatility in the Middle East has had a significant impact on Irish farm input costs and put pressure on margins,” said Minister Heydon.
“I can confirm in response to these pressures that Government has committed the maximum level of national funding, of 200% of EU allocation or €30.8 million, allowed under the EU Exceptional Aid package, which when coupled with Ireland’s EU funding allocation of €15.4 million, provides for total funding of €46.2 million for the Fertiliser Exceptional Aid Scheme which will be paid to farmers before the end of the year.”
The scheme will use existing data provided by the National Fertiliser Database for the fertiliser year (running from September 15th, 2024 to September 14th, 2025) to identify the farmers most impacted by higher input costs. This will then define eligibility for payment and to calculate each farmer payment.
The scheme is designed to minimise the administrative burden on farmers and ensure that payments are made to farmers before the end of the year.
Carlow Kilkenny TD Catherine Callaghan (FG) has welcomed this additional support for our locality’s farmers and is encouraging all eligible applicants to have their paper work up to date ahead of the October 23rd deadline.
“Payments will be €40 per tonne while the minimum eligibility quantity is two and a half tonnes,” Deputy Callaghan told KCLR News.
“The minimum payment is €100 while the maximum quantity for support under the scheme is 100 tonnes. There’s no application required; payments will be based on data already held by the National Fertiliser Database records and payments are expected to be issued before the end of 2026, which is both important and welcome.”
Young farmers, new entrants and eligible horticultural producers will also be accommodated through the new scheme, “providing a welcome boost for farmers across Carlow and Kilkenny who have faced sustained pressure from rising input costs”.
