€46.2m aid scheme announced to support Kildare farmers

The latest measure by the Minister of Agriculture Martin Heydon is due to the ‘continuing volatility in the Middle East’

By Ciarán Mather Published 14th Oct 2026, 11:00 BST €46.2m aid scheme announced to support Kildare farmers | FILE PHOTOGRAPH / PIXABAY The latest measure by the Minister of Agriculture Martin Heydon is due to the ‘continuing volatility in the Middle East’ A €46.2 million aid scheme has been announced to support farmers throughout the country, including those in County Kildare .

The Minister for Agriculture , Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, (Fine Gael) yesterday announced a major €46.2 million funding package, which aims to further support Irish farmers who are facing severe input cost increases caused by the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

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The Newbridge -based politician elaborated: "The continuing volatility in the Middle East has had a significant impact on Irish farm input costs and put pressure on margins.

“I can confirm in response to these pressures that government has committed the maximum level of national funding, of 200 pc of EU allocation or €30.8 million, allowed under the EU’s exceptional aid package.

“When coupled with Ireland’s EU funding allocation of €15.4 million, provides for total funding of €46.2 million for the Fertiliser Exceptional Aid Scheme, which will be paid to farmers before the end of the year.”

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Eligibility and payment rates will be based on the following criteria:

Minister Heydon further said: “By using data already held by the Department on the NFD and Basic Income Support Scheme records, the scheme will remove any extra administrative burden on farmers.

“This data is a good representation of the group of farmers most impacted by higher input costs specifically fertiliser costs and the payments made under this scheme will be a valuable liquidity support which can assist them dealing with these increased on-farm costs.”

He continued: “I have set a minimum level of fertiliser eligible for the scheme at 2.5 tonnes to ensure payments are received by the maximum number of farmers most impacted by higher fertiliser costs and within the maximum available budget for the scheme of €46.2 million.

“The payment rate for the scheme will be €40 per tonne; when the amount of fertiliser eligible for support is confirmed, I will finalise the maximum payable tonnage per farmer up to a maximum 100 tonnes.”

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, (Fine Gael) | PHOTOGRAPH CREDIT: OIREACHTAS.IE NEW ENTRANTS

The Minister also said: “In respect of new entrant and young farmers who do not have a record of fertiliser purchases in 2025 fertiliser year as they may only have commenced farming in 2026, I am proposing that for those who have submitted a BISS application in 2026 that their fertiliser purchase records for the 2026 fertiliser year will be used to calculate payment.

“Furthermore, I am also aware that some horticultural producers who use significant amounts of fertiliser in their business may not submit applications for BISS, so the eligibility requirement for them to receive payment under the scheme is to have, for 2026, a Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine - Plant Health Registration Number or Horticulture Food Registration Number.”

The Department has revealed that it will take an extract of data from the NFD on October 23, 2026, and asserted that the amount of fertiliser per farmer recorded on the database at this time will determine eligibility for the scheme and be used as the basis for calculating payments.

Farmers and the merchants that they sourced their fertiliser from must ensure all purchasing record data for 2025 fertiliser year on the NFD is fully accurate and up to date ahead of this deadline.

Further details regarding the exact payment rates per tonne of fertiliser to be paid under the scheme are due to be published by Minister Heydon’s Department in the coming weeks.

In addition, any farmers with queries relating to NFD records can contact the NFD Helpdesk at [email protected] .

Farmers can review their fertiliser purchase records through MyAgFood.ie .