This comes following the recent announcement by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue and Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity with special responsibility for Horticulture, Senator Pippa Hackett, regarding the distribution of the funds allocated under the EU Agricultural Reserve.
The HCF is a support measure that will be provided in the form of a once-off payment to brown mushroom, heated strawberry, field vegetable, field salad crop, apple, vertical farmed greens and glasshouse high wire crop growers that are most affected by the continued high level of input costs. The support package will help to ensure the short-term security and thus the long-term viability of growers in these subsectors. HCF payments will be made in January 2024 and eligible applicants will be paid based on the number of hectares in production and in the case of mushrooms, growers will be paid on the weight (kg) of mushrooms sold. Caps on payments per grower will be applied if the scheme is oversubscribed. Further information is available on the DAFM’s website, and completed application forms and supporting documentation must be submitted by midnight Wednesday, November 1.