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SPAG form available at DAFM stand

September 19 is opening day of the 2023 National Ploughing Championships (the Ploughing), and so too is it the day that the Succession Planning Advice Grant (SPAG) scheme opens.

This scheme aims to encourage and support farmers aged 60 years and above to seek succession-planning advice, and anyone interested can find out more information, and pick up a paper form, at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) stand at the Ploughing.
The SPAG scheme also aims to encourage best practice in intergenerational land transfer to address, among other things, significant generational imbalances within farming, according to the DAFM, while the grant will contribute up to 50 per cent of vouched legal, accounting, and advisory costs, subject to a maximum payment of €1,500. The scheme application process will remain open until the end of 2023 and first tranche payments will be made in quarter one of 2024. It is open to: 

  • Farmers aged 60 years and above who are currently not in a succession farm partnership.
  • Those farming at least a minimum of three hectares of land at the time of application.
  • Those farming for a minimum of two years prior to application.

The objectives of the SPAG scheme is to:

  • Encourage best practice in intergenerational land transfer to address, among other things, significant generational imbalances within farming.
  • Encourage and support farmers aged 60 years and above to seek succession planning advice by contributing up to 50 per cent of vouched legal, accounting, and advisory costs, subject to a maximum payment of €1,500.
View other Ploughing 2023 news