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Dairy farmers producing beef “must” be included in the share-out of the €100m Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM), ICSMA president Pat McCormack has said.
At a meeting with Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed on Tuesday, the ICMSA demanded that all farmers involved in beef production were eligible for a share of the fund.
An ICMSA spokesperson said there were about 2,000 dairy farmers who would have suffered very serious losses from their beef operation and that they are “every bit as significant and proportionate as those incurred by exclusively beef farmers”.
IFA president Joe Healy said that the exclusion of prime beef animals, steers, heifers and young bulls, from all mixed enterprise farms involving beef and dairy production is wrong. “These animals must be included for payment,” Healy said.
The Irish Farmers Journal understands that including prime animals from dairy farms within the scheme would soak up €12m of the €100m fund.
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