There’s been a mixed reaction from farming groups to the agricultural measures announced in Budget 2027, with the Irish Farmers’ Association seeking further measures to address surging costs.
The fuel-income support scheme for farmers and agricultural contractors has been extended for a further five months at a cost of €31.2 million.
While €31 million has been allocated for a new fertiliser scheme to support farmers with higher fertiliser costs.
IFA President Francie Gorman said the budget “contains a number of measures consistent with our asks” but that more supports will be needed to help farmers manage surging costs.
He said: “On the expenditure side, there is an increase in funding for some schemes, but our concern is that there may not be enough to avoid linear cuts to individual farmer payments particularly in our most vulnerable sectors.”
The Government has also acted on a recommendation from the Commission on Generational Renewal by removing the three-year holding period for applications made from next January for Succession Farm Partnerships.
In addition, the tax credit for Succession Farm Partnerships will be doubled to €10,000 from next year.
Macra, the group representing younger farmers, welcomed the changes to Succession Farm Partnerships but criticised what it called “the Government’s failure to fund a pilot Succession Scheme”, describing it as “a missed opportunity to show real ambition on generational renewal”.
Macra also welcomed the removal of the three-year requirement for Succession Farm Partnerships, saying the requirement was “acting as a barrier rather than an incentive to farm transfer”.
Macra President Josephine O’Neill said “succession policy should make it easier for families to transfer farms and responsibility to the next generation, not put obstacles in their way”.
Overall, €2.3 billion is being allocated to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for 2027.
This includes an extra €21.6 million for water-quality and biodiversity schemes, and €22 million for the National Sheep Welfare Scheme.
A €4 million rise in the budget for the Straw Incorporation Measure will benefit the tillage sector, and there’ll be an additional €20 million for the fisheries sector.
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According to the IFA, funding for the tillage support scheme has remained static “despite the significant cost increases in that sector”.
Mr Gorman said the budget for the Department “remains broadly similar to 2026 at €2.3bn, which is disappointing in the context of a 6% increase in overall Government spending”.
Meanwhile, ICMSA President Denis Drennan said that “notwithstanding the improvements in CAT Thresholds, the extension of the fuel scheme and the national top-up of the EU fertiliser scheme, this Government and this Budget will regrettably be remembered for fiddling around the margins of issues and doling out ‘penny packet’ measures”.
Mr Drennan said the budget “completely ignores the really important issues that get more urgent with every year they are ignored.
“The biggest issue in Irish farming right now and for the last decade is the fact that we are not getting young people to commit to the farming and food production sectors that are not just the economic basis for most of rural Ireland, but also the indispensable social and cultural factor outside the cities and bigger towns.”
