Budget 2026: What farm scheme changes is the IFA looking for?
The submission says that despite consistently delivering food ingredients globally, most farmers struggle to obtain positive market returns.
The farm organisation said this is a "derivative of stubbornly high costs of production, increased regulation, and farmers failing to secure their fair share of the value chain".
The submission calls for all elected representatives, both here and in Brussels, to work collectively to deliver a "strong, dedicated and enhanced" Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), in its traditional two-pillar format.
The IFA Budget 2026 document calls on the government to resist European Commission attempts to "put a knife through the heart of the CAP".
It calls for the complexity and bureaucracy surrounding existing farm payments to be reviewed and simplified, with maximum possible allocations to active farmers.
It also calls for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to maximise all available flexibilities about the design and implementation of the CAP Strategic Plan afforded via the recent CAP simplification package launched in May.
The IFA is proposing targeted sectoral supports of €300/cow for sucklers; €30/ewe; €250/ha for a 'tillage survival scheme'; a €100/calf dairy breed calf rearing payment; and a €100/head payment for beef sustainability (on dairy and suckling yearlings).
In terms of particular schemes, the IFA is calling for the budget and allocation to the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) scheme to be increased by €50 million to €300 million, and for the eligible area for the scheme to be increased from 34ha to 45ha.
On the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS), the IFA is calling for increasing investment ceilings for on-farm investments, and for costings to be indexed and/or updated annually to reflect market conditions.
Other demands the IFA outlined on TAMS include:
Increased resources to swiftly resolve backlog in application approvals and payments;
Removal of cow number restrictions in the Dairy Equipment Scheme;
Additional items, including grant aid for dribble bars, rubber mats, ATV/UTVs and quad gates;
Increased TAMS grant aid of 70% from a ringfenced national fund for slurry storage investment to be made available to all farmers regardless of their Nitrate status and/or current levels of on-farm slurry storage;
All farm safety, nutrient management, animal welfare and water quality investment items are to be prioritised;
A clear and simplified activity demonstration process for young farmers and women farmers;
Significant upward revision for pig farm investments;
Solar panel funding should be removed and provided independently of the TAMS programme, with both solar panel and on-farm anaerobic digestion funding having their own dedicated schemes.
On the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), the IFA is calling for a "full and urgent review" of the scheme and its implementation.
The submission said that there has been a "general lack of faith", and disappointment in ACRES among farmers.
The farm organisation is calling for a "fully revamped" agri-environment scheme that provides farmers with a payment of €15,000/year.
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