The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has called for the payment for suckler farmers, announced in Budget 2024 yesterday (Tuesday, October 10) should be “revisited”.
IFA Livestock Committee vice-chair Declan Hanrahan said the Budget 2024 announcement represents an increase in the overall funding allocated to the sector, but the rate of payment per cow must be “revisited”.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine Charlie McConalogue announced the payment for farmers in the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) and the National Beef Welfare Scheme (NBWS) to next year.
Together the schemes can offer suckler farmers payment of up to €200/cow, depending on factors like the number of cows applied for and measures chosen by farmers.
Hanrahan said the minister must make the payment available for all cows that join both schemes and increase it if necessary to reflect participation levels.
He said the IFA has “consistently” set out the case for a payment of €300/cow.
Hanrahan added that the fiasco of this year’s NBWS must be “avoided”.
“Leakage of monies from this scheme by including unnecessary and inappropriate measures must be addressed,” he said.
He said the “critical issue” at the moment was making sure the €50/cow committed by the minister in yesterday’s budget is paid on all cows in the scheme, with “leakage kept to an absolute minimum”.
He said the measures required to receive payment must be “practical to implement, add value on our farms and not add additional costs”.
He also highlighted the need for “significantly higher supports” for calf-rearing and for beef-finishing farmers.
“It is disappointing the minister has not put in place a beef sustainability payment for farmers rearing and finishing beef animals from both suckler and dairy herds,” Hanrahan continued.
“The minister must come forward with additional proposals in this area to support beef farmers in contributing to our climate targets while maintaining output from the farm,” he said.
The IFA will meet with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) in the coming days to discuss the details of the schemes for 2024.