Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue announced the opening of two new support measures for the suckler and beef sectors:
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- The €260 million Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) under the CAP Strategic Plan (CSP).
- The €5 million National Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme 2023.
The SCEP is the successor to the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP), has a budget of €260 million over five years, and is co-funded by the EU under the CSP. The SCEP rewards participant farmers with a payment equivalent to €150/cow on the first 22 cows and €120/cow on subsequent cows.
The National Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme 2023 is a successor to similar schemes in 2021 and 2022, has a budget of €5 million, and is funded from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve.
Applications for both measures can be lodged through agfood.ie with a closing date of 2 May for the Dairy Beef Scheme and 22 May for the SCEP.
Commenting on the opening of the measures, Minister McConalogue said, “as Minister, I have consistently advocated for and secured vital supports to make suckler and beef farming more efficient and competitive. Our suckler and beef farmers are the best in the world and I will continue to stand behind them and back them.”
“I am supporting our farm families to help them make their enterprises more economically and environmentally efficient. This is a key focus for me because the output of those farms accounted for €3 billion worth of exports to more than 70 markets worldwide in 2022.”
