A call for evidence on on-farm capital investments runs to October 30, with the minister saying TAMS 3 has drawn three times the applications of its predecessor and paid out more than €190 million since June 2024.
More than 500 head met an 'outstanding trade' at the Co. Wicklow mart, with heifers mostly at €4.50-5.50/kg and the best near €8/kg, and five exporters bidding on bulls that cleared fully at up to €6.92/kg.
Restricted herds fell to 5,300 from 6,449 a year earlier; the minister defended suspending 28 vets from testing, said the badger biosecurity scheme will reopen next year and argued that only Ireland and Britain are paying for TB research.
The 2025 annual report of the stakeholder-led agri-food strategy, launched at the Ploughing, lists the climate adaptation plan, the generational renewal commission and horticulture and forestry reviews; a revised strategy is due shortly.
Some 2,300 farmers answered the Agriland-ICMSA survey by research agency Opinions: 94% say the public does not understand the challenges they face, 88% feel blamed for environmental problems, and dairy farmers are the most pessimistic.
The January-August figures are on MyAgFood; dairy farmers who have not confirmed their cow band have been defaulted to the top band of 106kg N per cow, and real-time nitrates data covering sheep as well as cattle is being developed.
