Farmers must be allowed to repay money received under the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) over a longer period of time to protect short-term cashflow, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has said.
It is calling on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to implement a repayment timeframe of seven years with minimum interest rates on the installments, to help farmers facing cashflow issues.
It is also calling on the minister to reimburse any farmer that has already made a full repayment or had their money summarily deducted from another scheme, to offer them the same flexibility, ICSA’s beef chairperson, Edmund Graham said:
“We believe that the minister must immediately call a halt to the expectation that farmers can repay this money in one big chunk. Moreover, any interest charged to farmers making BEAM repayments over time should be kept to an absolute minimum, given that government borrowing costs are at an all-time low.”
The ICSA has stated that while it never agreed with the 5% stocking rate deduction requirement, there is now an opportunity to alleviate its harm.
“ICSA is proposing that farmers are allowed pay this money back over several years. We are inundated with harrowing calls from farmers who are devastated with demands for up to €10,000.”
The organisation stated that as farmers are facing an inputs crisis with unprecedented cost increases on fertiliser, fuel and feed over the past 12 months, cashflow is becoming a ‘critical issue’ for many.
“As farmers, particularly those in the low income sectors fight to survive, it is unconscionable that BEAM, a scheme supposedly meant to help farmers is now potentially pushing them over the edge,” Graham said.
“Rising costs are having a huge impact and many farmers simply do not have the cashflow to cover everything.”
The government introduced measures including the formation of a National Fodder and Food Security Committee (NFFSC) in March, over concerns about supply chain disruptions resulting from the conflict in Ukraine.
The ICSA has said that if the government is concerned about food security, their demands for large repayments is removing money from farmers that they could use to pay buy fertiliser.
“It really is time for some innovative thinking,” Graham concluded.