Farmers have been given an extra week to ensure fertiliser sales data on the National Fertiliser Database is correct – in order to comply with the new €46.2m fertiliser aid scheme.
The deadline for correct data to be recorded has been extended by a week to Friday 30 October.
The EU Fertiliser Exceptional Aid Scheme will pay farmers a maximum of €4,000.
Making the announcement to extend the deadline, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said: “My absolute priority with this €46.2m scheme is to deliver financial support to farmers without requiring them to submit additional paperwork.
“The scheme is therefore using existing records for [the] 2025 fertiliser year held on the National Fertiliser Database to confirm eligibility for payment and as the basis for calculating payments; there is no separate formal application form to fill out. It is important that farmers check their records on the fertiliser database to confirm they are correct. To ensure farmers have enough time to check these records I have extended the deadline by a week to Friday 30 October."
How to qualify
To qualify for the automatic payment, farmers must meet the following criteria:
The Department has advised that any farmer who hasn’t already done so should take this extended opportunity to log into MyAgFood.ie and verify that their sales and purchase data on the NFD is accurate.
“Where a fertiliser purchase is missing, the farmer should contact the fertiliser merchant who supplied the fertiliser in the first instance, as the merchant is responsible for recording and updating the sale on the NFD.
“Those farmers that have yet to register on the NFD and who wish to be eligible to receive a payment under the scheme must also do so by the 30 October,” it said.
