The IFA has said that “a support payment of €250/ha must be delivered in Budget 2026 for all cereal and oilseed rape crops grown for harvest in 2025”.

IFA grain committee chair Kieran McEvoy has said that if that payment doesn’t come then the Department will have to “stop talking about tillage”.

The organisation’s full proposals for tillage, displayed at a grain meeting of Carlow IFA on Tuesday, 1 July, include a request for the Government to introduce the tillage expansion and sustainability scheme proposed in the Tillage Food Vision Report published in May 2024.

The IFA said annual funding of €60m is needed for the next five years and must be introduced in Budget 2026.

The IFA’s proposal for the scheme would deliver a €400/ha payment for new land converted to tillage and a €250/ha payment for that land to remain in tillage for the rest of the scheme.

A sustainability scheme was also sought.

This suggests a €250/ha annual payment for existing tillage farmers to reward existing work and for the further adoption of measures.