The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) is urging around 480 farmers who are yet to complete the online training course for the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) to do so.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) stated at a farmers’ charter meeting yesterday (Thursday, December 12) that it is awaiting 479 farmers to finish training.
SCEP provides support to beef farmers to improve the environmental sustainability of the national beef herd.
Payments for scheme year-two of SCEP worth over €47.8 million have began issuing to the 14,943 suckler farmers participating.
Chair of the ICMSA livestock committee, Michael O’Connell has welcomed the payments but said that those awaiting training are “holding up their payments”.
SCEP
These farmers (amounting to 3% of the total who applied) would have received reminder letters from the department this week with a deadline date for completion of Thursday, December 19.
“ICMSA strongly urges those in receipt of the letter to get down to that online course as soon as possible to so as to clear the way for issue of that payment,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell also welcomed the news that each SCEP participant will get correspondence from DAFM in 2025 regarding their obligations as part of SCEP with particular reference to the action needed on eligible females, which will increase to 65% of their yearly reference number in 2025.
“These must be genotyped four or five stars on the Replacement Index. This is important to note and to address as the action is mandatory for scheme years 2023, 2025 and 2027,” O’Connell said.
The department have reminded participants that it may take up to five days for SCEP payments to reach participating farmers’ accounts
Failure to complete SCEP training by the deadline will render farmers ineligible to remain in the programme and monies received will have to be repaid.