Farm Schemes Overview
Farmers can apply for a number of Farm Schemes and Direct Payments, funded through EU CAP funding and/or National Exchequer funding.
| The details of all Farm Schemes can be found on the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine here. For details on the latest Charter of Farmers’ Rights, please see here. |
Direct Payments & Area Based Schemes – Pillar I
Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) Scheme & Entitlements
The Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) replaces the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). The BISS is designed to provide a direct income support to Irish farmers to underpin their continued sustainability and viability.
Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS)
Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS) is a new scheme that is often referred to as “front loading”.
It is designed to redistribute CAP funds from larger farms to medium and smaller sized farms.
Eco-Scheme
This voluntary annual scheme will be open to all active farmers to participate in. To qualify for payment, farmers will have to undertake specific agricultural practices on their farms. Payment under the Eco-Scheme will be an annual payment for all eligible hectares covered by the commitments undertaken.
National Reserve (Young Farmer Category)
The National Reserve (Young Farmer Category) scheme provides income support to young farmers setting up farms.
Successful applicants to the National Reserve receive an allocation of entitlements at national average value or a top-up to the national average value on entitlements that are below that level.
National Reserve (New Farmer Category)
The National Reserve (New Farmer Category) scheme provides income support to people setting up a farm.
Successful applicants to the National Reserve receive an allocation of entitlements at national average value or a top-up to the national average value on entitlements that are below that level.
Protein Aid Scheme
The Protein Aid Scheme is a payment to farmers for growing beans, peas, and lupins. These crops, which are nitogren-fixing, provide important environmental benefits. They are also a domestically-produced source of protein for animal feed.
The payment rate depends on uptake but is likely to be in the region of €500-€590 per hectare for beans, peas, lupins, and soya in 2023.
Agri-Environment Schemes – Pillar 2
TAMS 3
Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes (TAMS 3) provide grants to farmers to build and/or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holding. The following documents list the eligible items and their associated costs.
Straw Incorporation Measure
The Straw Incorporation Measure is payment for chopping straw and incorporating it into the soil. You must submit a BISS application each year declaring the land located within the jurisdiction of Ireland, grow the eligible crops and apply for SIM.
Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC)
The Areas of Natural Constraints scheme provides payments to people farming land in designated areas that face significant hardships from factors such as remoteness, difficult topography, climatic problems and poor soil conditions.
Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES)
ACRES is Ireland’s new agri-environment climate scheme under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan. This new €1.5 billion flagship agri-environment scheme is a farmer-friendly scheme to help address biodiversity decline while delivering an income support for up to 50,000 farm families in Ireland.
Organic Farming Scheme
The Organic Farming Scheme provides financial support to farmers to encourage production of organic foods.
Sheep Improvement Scheme
The Sheep Improvement Scheme provides financial support to farmers for taking extra steps to improve the welfare of their flock. Farmers get €12 per breeding ewe for completing flock welfare measures.
Other Schemes
National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme
The objective of the 2025 National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme is to support decision making on farms through better quality data on herd performance and to increase the economic and environmental efficiency of the beef from the dairy herd, and to facilitate further the integration of the dairy and beef sectors by providing support for farmers who are rearing progeny from the dairy herd.
Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP)
SCEP is an agricultural scheme which aims to provide support to beef farmers to improve the environmental sustainability of the national beef herd. The programme aims to build on the gains delivered in recent years through the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) and the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme (BEEP) by improving the genetic merit of the Irish suckler herd.
Forestry Grants and Schemes
Forestry grants are available from the Forest Service (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine) under the Forestry Programme 2014-2023. The Department set out the requirements of the funding in the scheme manual ad approves the grant and premium payments.
2025 Multi Species Sward Measure
This Measure aims to incentivise farmers to sow multi-species swards, which will reduce the reliance on nitrogen fertilisers and promote a more sustainable method of farming. A financial contribution will be provided to participating applicants to offset part of the cost that farmers will incur in the establishment of these swards.