Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes (TAMS) reference costs have been a major gripe point since the launch of TAMS III in 2023. At the time, reference costs increased up to 15% ahead of that of TAMS II, although this still fell short of the actual costs for many investments.

A bonus to the scheme at the time was the Farm Safety Capital Investment Scheme (FSCIS) which carried a 60% grant rate for replacement of slats, creation of external agitation points as well as both fixed and mobile cattle and sheep handling facilities.

A review on reference costs was called for by many farm lobbying groups, with analysis in the pages of the Irish Farmers Journal showing reference costs to be out of kilter by as much as 30% for high-spec units.

Speaking at one of the Farm building forums, which was jointly organised by the Irish Farm Buildings association and Teagasc, Robert Leonard of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine updated attendees on when updated reference costs would hopefully be in place.

“The review of the costs is ongoing, and we are hoping to get them done as soon as possible, but it will be done this year,” he said.

“Building costs went up a lot; steel went up a lot and has come back in price a lot, concrete went up a lot and has come back a little bit.

“Labour costs seem to be the biggest issue at the moment, so we are making sure we are getting back in line with costs so that it is a proper 40% grant of the cost of the building,” he said.

TAMS applications

No firm date was given for when these updated costs will be implemented, though the slow start to approval for TAMS applications was acknowledged, with this set to revert back to the norm of “three to four months” in the near future.

In relation to exemption on slurry storage facilities, Leonard stated that “ongoing negotiations are in place”. He added: “If you are in an SAC, NHA or scenic area, exemptions [for far buildings] disappear anyway. An exemption is usually a quick thing; it doesn’t usually go up on the [council’s] website for people to object to, but it does look at issues of where neighbours are.”

Leonard reminded attendees that no TAMS aid would be given for any investments inside a shed/sharing air space with a shed with an internal agitation point, though grants were available to remove internal points and replace with external agitation points.

For nutrient storage investments, farmers would have to have sufficient capacity for their current stock, either through owned or rented slurry storage, in order to qualify for TAMS aid.

Slurry storage costs

Tom Fallon, farm buildings specialist with Teagasc, later discussed specification updates for dairy cow housing and slurry storage costs.

A report on bovine manure management completed by Teagasc in 2017 to 2021 showed that 90% of slurry was stored in roofed slatted tanks, 7% was stored in overground tanks (slurry towers), 4% was stored in underground tanks (unroofed concrete tanks) while less than 1% was stored in lined lagoons (the above figures were rounded to the nearest percentage).

Table 1 was presented to the attendees, showing the various costs of slurry storage facilities.

Fallon also highlighted that the cost to cover steel towers and lined lagoons were approximately €55,534 and €42,000 respectively, with covers on lined lagoons primarily to reduce ammonia loss through wind passing over the lagoon as opposed to reducing the volume of water collected in them from rainfall.

In relation to the nutrient storage scheme implemented by the Department of Agriculture earlier in the year under TAMS, Fallon highlighted just how much money was available to farmers.

For single entities, farmers could avail of a 60% grant aid on the first €90,000 ceiling.

For farm partnerships that did not include a qualifying young farmer or woman farmer, a 60% grant aid was still available to farmers up to €160,000 of a spend.

Single entity farmers could then avail of €90,000 of a ceiling to spend on other on farm investments, including roofed accommodation over the new tank at a rate of 40% where they are not a qualifying young or woman farmer.

60% grant rate

In relation to partnerships including a qualifying or young farmer, where there was one qualifying young or woman farmer in the partnership, then a 60% grant rate could be attained for investments outside of slurry and manure storage facilities, with the remaining €70,000 (to the €160,000 ceiling) available at a grant rate of 40%.

However, where there are two qualifying young or women farmers in a partnership, then the full €160,000 could be spent with a grant rate of 60% given.

Farms operating in a limited company can not avail of the increased ceiling, and are limited to €90,000 of a spend on both the nutrient storage and other investments.