Farmers now have one month left to spread lime purchased under the National Liming Programme, with the final date for spreading on Friday, June 28.
Over 14,500 claims were submitted under the programme with advance payments issued to farmers late last year for lime purchased no later than November 7, 2023.
Due to high levels of rainfall since last July, the spreading deadline which initially had been on October 31, 2023, was extended until March 31, 2024, before being further extended until June 28.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, however, recently said he does “not envisage” any further extension to the final lime spreading date.
Spreading lime
The maximum eligible application rate is 7.5t/ha. However, ground limestone can only be applied in accordance with the lime requirement stated on up-to-date soil analysis reports (maximum of fours years old from date of purchase).
To be eligible for this measure, all invoices had to be uploaded in one claim (a maximum of five invoices can be submitted) on agfood.ie by November 7, 2023.
The claims IT system for submitting invoices closed in November and “to be fair to all farmers” it is not possible to process late claims, according to Minister McConalogue.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) reminded farmers that failure to adhere to the conditions of the scheme regarding spreading will result in recoupment of aid already paid.
The programme was introduced in March 2023 to incentivise the use of lime as a natural soil conditioner which corrects soil acidity, make nutrients more available for plant uptake, and improves soil health.