To date, 20,511 farmers in the Beef Data Genomics Programme have completed a carbon navigator, the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed has said.

Going by these latest figures, 17% of farmers have yet to submit their completed carbon navigators by the November 30 deadline. Some 24,500 farmers are registered in the programme.

In October, the Minister extended the deadline for the completion of the carbon navigators by one month to November 30.

The Minister extended the deadline to “enable all participants to complete the navigator in order that payment can issue to them in December, subject to all other requirements [of the programme] having been met”.

Payments under the programme are expected to commence in December and it is expected that the 2016 budget of €52m will be ‘fully consumed’ by year end, a Department official said earlier this month.

The carbon navigator is an online farm management package produced by Bord Bia and Teagasc that quantifies the environmental gains that can be made on an individual’s farm.

The first completion of the carbon navigator must be undertaken in conjunction with an approved advisor.

The Department will cover the cost of the approved advisor for the completion of the Carbon Navigator, while the farmer’s cost is incorporated into the annual genomics payment.

Earlier this year, the Department of Agriculture confirmed that approximately 5,700 farmers have withdrawn from the programme.

Just under 30,000 farmers joined the Genomics programme by the June 5, 2015 closing date and to date, 24,000 farmers have received approximately €44m in respect of their 2015 payment with the Department finalising the last remaining 2015 query cases in advance of the 2016 payments.