According to the most recent figures provided by Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed in response to a parliamentary question, there has been a total of 26,000 applications through the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS). So far, approval has issued to approximately 20,000 farmers.

The total budget for the programme is €395m, but one of the big issues the Department is currently experiencing with the scheme is the high number of applicants who are not completing projects after receiving approval.

This saw 1,500 TAMS applications lapse by March 2019, with over €11m committed to these projects returning to the overall TAMS budget.

In total, €152m has been paid out to farmers to date, with a further €122m yet to be paid due to applicants not submitting their payment claims; how many of these will actually complete works is unknown.

We saw in the 13th tranche of TAMS, which ended on 5 April, that there was approximately 3,200 applicants, with 600 of these having to be transferred over to the 14th tranche, as the allocated budget could not accommodate all applicants. That tranche closed on 5 July, but figures are not yet available for total applications. However, there are indications that there has been a large number of applications for this tranche also.

The average payment is approximately €14,793, which has been paid to 9,591 applicants.

If we extrapolate this average payment to the total number of approvals issued to date (20,311), it would mean a financial commitment of approximately €300m.

However, this does not take into account the number of dropouts from the scheme. If there were a total of 2,000 applicants that have dropped out to date, it would mean €29.5m being reallocated to the TAMS budget. This could see a remaining budget of €125m. However, the exact figure is currently unknown. Using the average payment to date, this would mean there is grant support available for approximately 8,500 more applications.

There are currently over 10,000 farmers who have received approval, but who have not yet made a payment claim through the scheme and the fear is that a large portion of these projects may not be completed.

This itself creates difficulties when it comes to allocating funds through the scheme and potentially including other eligible items.

What we have seen over the past 12 months is an increase in the total number of applications to the scheme, with application numbers peaking in the 13th tranche.

In general, for schemes such as this one, application numbers will ramp up as the scheme approaches its closing date. Farmers have 18 months left to apply through the scheme, up to 31 December 2020, with a further year to complete work.

Anecdotally, many farmers who have been holding off on investing through the scheme to date are considering making applications before the deadline, as there is uncertainty whether such schemes will be introduced in the coming years.