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Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD, has announced the launch of the new specialised Tillage Measure under TAMS II.

This Tillage Measure brings a seventh measure to the suite of measures available to farmers under the Targeted Modernisation Scheme (TAMS II) which is part of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 and is co-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

The Minister said “I am very pleased to launch this new measure as part of the online TAMS II scheme. Through the Tillage Stakeholder Forum I am aware of the issues facing the tillage sector including the effects of a poor harvest in 2016. This measure includes capital investment measures which will assist the sector in supporting the use of the most modern and efficient equipment and facilities to enable the tillage farmer to improve competitiveness.”

The specific areas of investment include Minimum Disturbance Tillage Equipment, Sprayers, Rain Water Harvesting, Grain Storage and Grain dryers.

“I would encourage all Tillage farmers to examine the provisions of TAMS II. I am confident that this new measure will provide a strong platform for investments on tillage holdings” the Minister said.

Minister Creed announced that an indicative allocation of €26m was being made available to the Tillage Sector under the terms of the new measure over the full period of the Rural Development Programme. The total allocation for the various on farm investment schemes under TAMS II, including the Tillage measure, is €395m over the full course of the programme.

All applications must be made on-line, either by the farmer or by their authorised Advisor. The closing date for applications under the first tranche of the new measure will be Friday 30 June 2017.

Further details are available at: http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/farmerschemespayments/tams/