Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue TD, has announced the opening for applications of the Beef Sector Efficiency Programme – Sucklers (BEEP-S) as well as the Dairy Beef Calf schemes. Applications for the measure can be lodged through agfood.ie with the closing date on Monday 25th April. The two schemes are worth €45m to livestock farmers and are aimed at driving further efficiencies within the livestock sectors.
Commenting on the opening of BEEP-S, Minister McConalogue said, “as part of Budget 2022, I secured these two crucial schemes to ensure that our farm families can be rewarded for their hard work in driving important efficiency gains within our world-class beef sector. A key focus of mine as Minister is supporting efficient suckler and beef farming. They are the backbone of many rural communities and are a key part of the foundation of our €13.5bn agri-food export sector. BEEP-S has proven to be a farmer-friendly scheme that provides an important income support as well as driving further genetic improvements in the sector.”
Minister McConalogue acknowledged the strong potential for better integration of dairy and beef systems, particularly the role of dairy beef in providing a new diversification option for beef farmers, “I am pleased to announce that the €5 million Dairy Beef measure and the €40 million BEEP-S scheme for sucklers are now open for applications for 2022. I am committed to the long-term support of sustainable beef farming supporting Ireland in our ambition to build capacity as a world leader in sustainable food systems over the next decade.”
Dairy Beef Calf Measure
With a budget of €5 million this year, and following from the pilot in 2021, the continued objective of this measure is to increase the economic and environmental efficiency of beef from the dairy herd, and to facilitate further the integration of the dairy and beef sectors by providing support for farmers who are rearing progeny from the dairy herd. The core action is the weighing of eligible calves for which there is a payment of €20 per calf up to a maximum of 40 calves increased from 20 in the pilot measure.
BEEP-S
BEEP (S) has a funding provision of €40 million in 2022 and targets the weaning efficiency of suckler cows and calves by measuring the live weight of the calf at weaning as a percentage of the cow’s live weight. In recognition of the crucial role of animal health and welfare in economic and environmental efficiency, applicants to the scheme can also select from a number of optional health and welfare measures including meal feeding or vaccination of weanlings and/or faecal egg testing of suckler cows.
Minister McConalogue stated, “the 2022 BEEP–S scheme builds on the success of the scheme last year, with approximately 30,000 participants.”
The Minister outlined that under BEEP–S, participants may be eligible for up to €90 for the first 10 suckler cow/calf pairs per herd and up to €80 per pair thereafter subject to an overall maximum of 100 pairs per herd, if all actions under the scheme are applied for and completed in full in accordance with the scheme terms and conditions.
The application process for both measures will remain open until Monday 25 April 2022.
Minister McConalogue noted that though the scheme will be funded by the Irish exchequer, details of the scheme have been notified to the European Commission in accordance with the COVID-19 Temporary State Aid Framework and approval of applications under the measure will be subject to Commission decision on the measure.
The Minister concluded by reminding farmers and advisors that, “applications must be completed online at agfood.ie and farmers should ensure their application is actually submitted, rather than having a status as a ‘draft application’ on agfood.ie.”
Participants in the 2021 scheme who wish to participate in this year’s measure must submit a new application.
The full terms and conditions for both measures under the Beef Sector Efficiency Pilot are available at gov.ie.
