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Agriculture Schemes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 February 2022

Tuesday, 8 February 2022

Questions (842)

Matt Carthy

Question:

842. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the funding allocated to the pilot soil sampling scheme; the number of places within the scheme this was intended to facilitate; the number of successful and unsuccessful candidates by county; the basis on which applicants were selected or refused; the number of successful applicants affected by reported delays by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6724/22]

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Written answers

A budget of €10 million has been allocated to the pilot Soil Sampling and Analysis Programme.

The Programme aims to cover the cost of approximately 80,000 to 100,000 soil samples at an average cost of €105 per sample. With a maximum of 16 samples per farm, it was anticipated that over 7,500 applicants would be accepted into the Programme.

The application period closed on 8th October 2021. Due to oversubscription, 7,879 successful applicants were selected from a total of 15,820 applicants. Table 1 below shows the number of total applicants and successful applicants by county.

Applicants were selected for the programme on a first come first serve basis with additional steps to ensure appropriate geographic and sectoral spread. Nationally, applicants were grouped according to their NUTS 3 region (7 regions) and their relevant self-selected farm enterprise type (5 types). CSO Farm Structure Survey data provided the relative spread of enterprise type per NUTS 3 region. This was scaled down from National figures allowing comparison with the Soil Sampling Programme figures to ensure representative approvals.

The pilot Soil Sampling and Analysis Programme is a substantial and ambitious programme. Soil sampling is ongoing and taking place across all counties. Farmers who were approved into the Programme were informed that their sampling contract runs to 31st December 2022. Approved participants who do not have their soil sampled this spring will have a further opportunity to have samples taken in the autumn if they wish.

Table 1. Number of total applicants and successful applicants by county

County

Total Applications

Total Successful

Carlow

267

189

Cavan

643

452

Clare

527

238

Cork

2313

869

Donegal

1197

547

Dublin

45

30

Galway

1658

766

Kerry

792

377

Kildare

225

141

Kilkenny

378

226

Laois

393

142

Leitrim

283

165

Limerick

566

212

Longford

366

152

Louth

138

93

Mayo

965

477

Meath

346

266

Monaghan

179

96

Offaly

391

146

Roscommon

742

497

Sligo

497

306

Tipperary

905

457

Waterford

311

192

Westmeath

730

282

Wexford

674

395

Wicklow

289

166

Total

15820

7879

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