The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed that dribble bars will not be included in the list of eligible items that will be grant aided in the new Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Schemes (TAMS).
The comprehensive new national reference costs compiled by DAFM for TAMS 3 outline what specific items will be eligible for grant aid from February 22.
The list includes in the region of more than 50 new items with a clear focus on key themes that have been heavily promoted by DAFM including organics, tillage, solar and women farmers.
Among some of the items listed in the new TAMS are cattle underpasses, farm roadways, and collars for health and fertility monitoring but there are also some contentious and unpopular exclusions from the new scheme.
As Agriland had revealed earlier this week, in relation to the Low Emission Slurry Spreading Scheme (LESS) there is no inclusion for dribble bars with only a trailing shoe and shallow injection attachment listed for attachment on slurry tankers with the same attachments (trailing shoe and shallow injection) also listed for umbilical systems.
Although the new TAMS 3 list outlines the list of items and costings that are available under the dairy equipment scheme (DES) it fails to provide the extensive details that farmers will be most curious about.
Some of the items in the DES include cluster units (for new and the extension of milking machines), robotic milking machine, backup PTO generator and milk recording equipment.
However as has been previously flagged there is no reference to rotary machines in the list of items.
As had been expected, there is a strong focus on organics and renewables, in the latest TAMS which reflects both DAFM’s ambitions in this area and a growing number of farmers moving in this direction.
There is also the introduction of solar electric fencing in TAMS 3 underlying the government’s continued commitment to promoting renewable energy sources where ever possible.
One particular area also emphasised in the TAMS 3 list is around the key issue of farm safety.
Potential investments under farm safety are a big element of the new scheme.
Farmers will be able to draw down grant aid on a number of items including in the previous TAMS II once again along with new investments.
In terms of the Pig and Poultry Capital Investment Scheme under TAMS 3, a big emphasis is once again, in the items listed, around energy efficiency across the various pig housing units.
A full list of the available items and reference costs for TAMS 3 are available on the DAFM website.