The total funding allocated in the budget to the Department of Agriculture amounted to €2.112bn, a figure that is almost exactly 2% (2.0029%, to be precise) of the total Government budget for 2025.

This puts the size of the package for agriculture in line with recent years (Figure 1) and keeps spending on the sector – just – above €1 in every €50 of Government spending.

On the measures announced, there is certainly a pre-election feel about them, with spending spread wide, while promises made to tillage farmers on the €100/ha payment were kept. There was also the announcement of an income volatility measure to be introduced in the 2026 budget, although there were few details of this, other than that it would be a tax measure.

Difficult in future

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said that maintaining the 2% share of spending would become more difficult in future.

“The point you have to remember with that percentage of the overall budget is that our population has been increasing significantly, and while that will lead to more tax revenues it will also lead to more demand on education, health and social payments.”

This does not mean that the amount of money going to the Department of Agriculture will fall in future, but rather that demands on spending for other key areas will exceed those of farming, purely driven by both the number of people in the country, and Ireland’s ageing population, which will push Government spending on agriculture below the €1 in €50 level.

One place where farmers may be able to find additional funding in future is in the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund. The budget set aside “up to €3.15bn” of the fund for spending between 2026 and 2030 to “support the transition to a low-carbon economy and improved environmental outcomes”.

A portion of those funds could be allocated towards accelerating the anaerobic digestion sector, as well as other on-farm environmental measures, with the spending coming from the Department’s budget as it does today.