A further extension to the date by which lime must be spread under the National Liming Programme has been announced by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue today (Wednesday, June 12).
Lime purchased under the scheme can now be spread until Thursday, October 31. This means the deadline has been pushed out by a further four months (the previous liming deadline was June 28) due to poor soil trafficability.
The decision comes after Minister McConalogue previously ruled out any further extension to the deadline, which initially had been on October 31, 2023, but was extended until March 31, 2024, and again until June 28 due to wet weather.
Announcing the decision today, however, the minister said that while he had hoped the previous extension would allow ground conditions improve to allow the spreading of lime, soil trafficability has not improved sufficiently in some parts of the country.
“Information from quarries estimates that a little over 30% of pre-paid lime has been spread to date, with this figure being lower in certain parts of the country.
“With the previous deadline fast approaching, I am extending the spreading date until the end of October to give all farmers the opportunity to apply lime as per the conditions of the scheme,” Minister McConalogue said.
However, there will be no further extension beyond the deadline on October 31 as balancing payments are required to be processed and made in 2024, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
The National Liming Programme was introduced by the minister in spring 2023 to incentivise the use of lime as a natural soil conditioner, which corrects soil acidity, makes nutrients more available for plant uptake and improves overall soil health.
Over 14,500 claims were submitted under the programme with advance payments issued to farmers in December 2023. Payments were conditional on the purchase of lime no later than November 7, 2023.
Subsequently, participants were required to spread the purchased lime before the liming deadline at the end of June. However, this date has now been extended until Thursday, October 31, 2024.