Suckler farmers will get €35m of the €100m Brexit beef fund announced last month, with beef finishers getting €67m, if the Department of Agriculture’s submission for the fund is to be implemented by the European Commission.
The submission, seen by the Irish Farmers Journal, shows that the Department calculated that beef finishers took a €67m hit on prices between September 2018 and March 2019 as a result of Brexit uncertainty. In the same period, sucklers took a hit of €35m, it said.
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed indicated to the Dáil on Wednesday that the €100m will be paid out to farmers based on this. “The submission we made to the Commission quantified the relative hits that finishers and producers of weanlings, particularly from the suckler herd, had taken.
“While I do not want to stand up here and say I have the scheme now, broadly speaking, that will be reflected in the final shape insofar as targeting the €100m where the hit impacted most,” he said.
The Minister said he will engage in the coming days with farm organisations and devise a scheme for submission to the Commission by the end of July.
IFA livestock chair Angus Woods said Minister Creed must immediately move to pay out this fund to beef finishers and suckler farmers.
“With cattle prices on the floor, farmers are becoming frustrated with the delays. It is essential there is no conditionality to the fund as it is for retrospective beef price losses as a result of Brexit,” he said.
The Department submission also says that when compared with prices in 2015, the last full year before the Brexit vote, the cost to beef finishers exceeds €97m. The suckler figure since September 2018 compared to 2015 is approximately €52m, it said.
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Suckler farmers will get €35m of the €100m Brexit beef fund announced last month, with beef finishers getting €67m, if the Department of Agriculture’s submission for the fund is to be implemented by the European Commission.
The submission, seen by the Irish Farmers Journal, shows that the Department calculated that beef finishers took a €67m hit on prices between September 2018 and March 2019 as a result of Brexit uncertainty. In the same period, sucklers took a hit of €35m, it said.
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed indicated to the Dáil on Wednesday that the €100m will be paid out to farmers based on this. “The submission we made to the Commission quantified the relative hits that finishers and producers of weanlings, particularly from the suckler herd, had taken.
“While I do not want to stand up here and say I have the scheme now, broadly speaking, that will be reflected in the final shape insofar as targeting the €100m where the hit impacted most,” he said.
The Minister said he will engage in the coming days with farm organisations and devise a scheme for submission to the Commission by the end of July.
IFA livestock chair Angus Woods said Minister Creed must immediately move to pay out this fund to beef finishers and suckler farmers.
“With cattle prices on the floor, farmers are becoming frustrated with the delays. It is essential there is no conditionality to the fund as it is for retrospective beef price losses as a result of Brexit,” he said.
The Department submission also says that when compared with prices in 2015, the last full year before the Brexit vote, the cost to beef finishers exceeds €97m. The suckler figure since September 2018 compared to 2015 is approximately €52m, it said.
Read more
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