Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon has ruled out a reintroduction of the National Liming Programme.

The National Liming Programme was launched in March 2023 as a once-off funded measure from the national exchequer.

"The measure was introduced to offset significant cost increases for both fertiliser and ground limestone arising from Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine," the minister said.

Expenditure

Responding to a parliamentary question from Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae, Minister Heydon said that in excess of 14,500 farmers submitted payment claims under the programme, by the extended claims deadline of November 7, 2023.

Total expenditure exceeded €8.2 million.

The minister said: "There is no funding available within Budget 2026 for this measure and therefore it will not be possible to re-introduce the programme."

This programme was introduced to incentivise the use of lime as a natural soil conditioner, which corrects soil acidity by neutralising the acids that are present in the soil.

Research has shown that liming not only increases soil microbial activity but can also unlock soil phosphorous (P) and potassium (K), according to the Department of Agriculture.

Liming can improve the response to freshly applied N, P, and K, while providing a valuable source of calcium.

Trial results have also indicated that increasing soil pH to optimum levels leads to a significant reduction in nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions while simultaneously increasing grass and other crop yields, the department said.

Farmers advised to buy fertiliser 

Farmers this week were being advised to purchase fertiliser for the coming months if they can due to the potential impact of the US-Israel war with Iran.

Bill O'Keeffe, chair of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) Farm Business Committee, told Agriland this is a very busy time of the year with a lot of inputs going into farms over the next few months.

He said that fertiliser prices had already been pushed up over the introduction of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which taxes imports of carbon-intensive products.