Farmers who were told that any associated herd numbers they had during the reference period for the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) scheme would be factored into their manure nitrogen calculations “have been left in an impossible situation”, one farm organisation has said.
Some 1,000 farmers recently received letters from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine which informed them that, where a BEAM participant has had one or more associated herd numbers linked to their application during the period concerned, these herd numbers are deemed to be part of the participant’s holding.
Reacting to this, Edmund Graham, the beef chairperson of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) called for each farmer to be “individually assessed and treated fairly”.
“It is unfair to throw a curveball in at the eleventh hour, making it virtually impossible for farmers to rectify their stocking rates.
“1,000 farmers have received letters and it is likely that almost half of them are potentially facing a BEAM penalty. Some of these farmers – who thought they were on target to meet the requirements of the scheme – have now been left in an impossible situation,” Graham argued.
The letters from the department outlined that all herd numbers must be included in the nitrates figures for the holding and most show a combined reduction of 5% on the July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019 reference period.
“If this has been the case, why then have nitrates figures not been supplied all along for associated herds?” the ICSA beef chair asked.
“At least then farmers would have been in possession of all the relevant information and been able to act accordingly.
“The lack of timely and accurate figures throughout the scheme has been very problematic. However, in order to access this badly needed compensation farmers have done their utmost to see the scheme through, and curveballs like this on the home stretch are inexcusable,” Graham argued.
He concluded: “I am urging Minister Charlie McConalogue and the department officials to look carefully at each case before they deny payment to any farmer.”