Announcing the 2013 funding for his Department of €1.25 billion, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said: I was particularly pleased to secure an increased capital allocation in 2013 of some €25 million from the Department of Finance in a period of very scarce resources. This enables a meaningful capital programme to be undertaken, including funding for some 7,000 hectares of new forest planting. The Voted expenditure for 2013 of €1.25 billion is comprised of some €1.057 billion in current expenditure and €193 million capital expenditure. The downward budgetary movement between 2012 and 2013 of €89 million reflects lower budget requirements for a number of measures.
Key priorities for this year’s Budget include:
- The protection of incomes for family farms
- Support for small farm holdings in disadvantaged areas
- Taxation measures to restructure, modernise and promote growth in the agri-food and farming sector.
- Providing support programmes in line with the targets of Food Harvest 2020, in particular job creation
- Supporting the future of the sector through new research and development funding and through investment in food safety and animal health and welfare controls
- A continued programme of reform within the Department aimed at continued improvement in service delivery and reducing costs.
Taxation Measures – restructuring and modernising the agri-food sector
In addition to direct financial support for the agri-food sector, side by side with that I have secured agreement for a range of taxation reliefs that would link in with the key measures being pursued in Harvest 2020 for the growth and development of the agriculture, food and marine sectors. The main taxation measures in the Budget which will benefit the sector are as follows
The retention of the general 25% rate of stock relief for all farmers and 100% stock relief for young trained farmers;A new farm restructuring initiative to allow consolidation of land parcels with the aim of improving the overall efficiency of the combined holdings; An expansion of the foreign earnings deduction scheme which benefits SME’s, to apply where an individual spends 60 days a year developing opportunities for Ireland in certain key markets;
The extension of the farm partnership scheme to sectors other than milk production partnerships, subject to State aid approval; Relief from Excise Duty on auto diesel for licensed road hauliers. These taxation measures reflect this Government’s commitment to the agri-food industry and in particular to the expansion planned in the Food Harvest 2020 strategy. They are designed specifically to address key constraints in the sector and ensure that the growth potential of the sector is fully realised”
Source: MerrionStreet.ie – Coveney Announces 2013 Spending Plans for Agriculture, Food and Marine
