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IFA president Tim Cullinan has welcomed confirmation that funding under the €50m Beef Finisher Payment (BFP) will be issued to farmers this week.
The scheme was introduced to compensate beef farmers for losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The payment amounts to approximately €100 per head to all eligible applicants and relates to losses incurred by farmers during the period 1 February to 12 June 2020.
More than 28,000 farmers applied for the scheme. The average payment per farmer will be in the region of €1,600, with farmers applying for just over 16 animals on average.
Vital support
The IFA president said that the payments would be an important boost for farmers.
“Many recipients of these payments will already have invested in replacement stock during the autumn, so the value of these payments will benefit the whole sector.
“Not all of the money for the scheme will be allocated. Any underspend must be used to cover animals which were excluded from the scheme because they were exported.”
IFA national livestock chair Brendan Golden said that the scheme is a vital support to farmers. “It was important that the Government introduced this scheme, and that the money is now getting out to farmers.”
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