Cork and Tipp top the TAMS league as dairy expansion drives farm investment
WHAT have hurling and TAMS grants in common?
Very little, except the counties which gained most from the TAMS scheme since 2016 will all fancy their chances of lifting Liam MacCarthy this year should the GAA manage to get a hurling championship run off.
Over a quarter of all TAMS grants drawn down over the last five years went to farmers in Cork and Tipperary, Department of Agriculture figures show, with Kilkenny, Wexford and Galway making up the remainder of the ‘top five’.
Around €220m has been approved in TAMS grants since 2016, supporting investmests of close to €480m at farm level.
Cork received by far the biggest proportion of grants, with farmers getting approval for €37m in TAMS supports in the period from 2016 up to Friday, July 24 this year.
Tipperary received €21.3m during the same period, with farmers in Kilkenny, Wexford and Galway securing €15.7m, €14.2m and €12.2m respectively.
Other counties with sizeable grant approval rates included Limerick (€11.9m), Kerry (€11.5m) and Waterford (€10.7m), followed by Clare (€7.8m), Laois (€7.4m), Meath (€6.8m), Offaly (€6.2m), Monaghan (€6m), Cavan (€5.9m), Donegal (€5.9m) and Mayo (€5.7m).
The counties with the lowest TAMS approvals include Leitrim (€1.7m), Sligo (€2m) and Longford (€2.5m).
Application rates
Application rates for TAMS in 2020 are running close to 2018 and 2019 levels despite the disruption caused by the Covid-19 crisis.
The concentration of TAMS grant approvals in the southern half of the country confirms that dairy expansion continues to account for a high proportion of the applications.
With grant aid of between 40pc and 60pc available under TAMS for the purchase of qualifying equipment or capital investment projects, the scheme is hugely important for dairy start-ups.
A recent examination of grant approvals indicated that around 40pc of successful applications related to the purchase of milking machines or other dairy equipment.
A further 20pc of grants were for farm buildings, while 12pc involved the purchase of slurry spreading equipment.
Investments associated primarily with the tillage sector
which included the purchase of sprayers, fertiliser spreaders and pesticide reduction accounted for close to 10pc of the total value of applications.
To-date there have been more than 35,000 applicants for grants under the scheme, with around 28,000 approved.
Boom sector:
The concentration of TAMS grant approvals in the southern half of the country confirms that dairy expansion continues to account for a high proportion of the applications.