A total of 27,088 farmer applicants have been successful in partaking in the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Suckler (BEEP-S) scheme, according to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue.

The minister was responding to a parliamentary question on the matter from Sinn Féin agriculture spokesperson Matt Carthy in the Dáil last week.

Deputy Carthy asked the minister for the number of successful applications to the BEEP-S scheme; the amount received by each individual; and the county each farm was located in.

In his response, the minister provided a county-by-county breakdown of successful applicants under the scheme.

Commenting on the scheme, Minister McConalogue said:

“The objective of BEEP-S is to further increase economic and environmental efficiency in the suckler herd through better quality data on herd performance, supporting decision making on farm and support of best practice in welfare management.

“Payments under the BEEP-S will be made in the last quarter of 2020,” the minister added.

BDGP clawbacks

On another note, Minister McConalogue confirmed last week that a total of 488 farmers have had to repay monies issued under the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) either for non-compliance or because they had withdrawn from the scheme.

The minister was responding to a parliamentary question from Matt Carthy regarding the number of farmers who received letters seeking repayment and the average amount sought per county, as well as the reasons for sending the letters.