Payments under the 2019 Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) have commenced to 32,444 farmers, to the value of some €75 million.

Announcing the commencement of the payments, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed said:

“This further, very significant level of payments to farmers in the beef sector under BEAM represents clear recognition by my department, the Government and the EU of the very challenging and difficult climate that these farmers have had to face in recent years.”

BEAM payments will continue to issue on an ongoing basis as more farmers are verified as compliant with the requirements of the measure, according to the Department of Agriculture

Continuing, the minister said: “These payments are in addition to some €15.4 million under the Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP) and €34.4 million in Beef Data and Genomic Programme (BDGP) payments that have already issued in recent weeks, making a total of €125 million to Irish beef farmers.

“Since September, a total of €1.72 billion has now been paid out to Ireland’s farmers under a range of schemes operated by my department,” the minister added.

BEAM

Under the scheme, aid is paid on adult cattle slaughtered between September 24, 2018, and May 12, 2019, at a rate of €100/animal subject to a maximum of 100 finished animals per herd.

Aid will also be paid on suckler cows that calved in 2018, at a rate of €40/animal subject to a maximum of 40 sucklers per herd.

The scheme was open to more than 70,000 beef and suckler farmers.