Some 197 farmers applied for a derogation from some or all of the nitrates reduction required under the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM).

Some 36 farmers are still waiting for their application to be finalised.

A Department of Agriculture spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal that 154 have been paid and, for the most part, will have been granted full or partial derogations based on pre-existing legal or scheme requirements to hold a particular level of stock that would otherwise be impossible if they were to reduce their nitrates by the required 5%.

Reference period

“Some of those who received derogation were farmers who had been destocked during the BEAM reference period as a result of TB and, as a result, their stocking levels were unrepresentative of their normal farming system.

“In such cases, the farmers' nitrates figure was adjusted upwards to reflect the stocking level before TB destocking took place and this higher figure will be used when checking for the 5% reduction,” the spokesperson said.

Seven cases were not considered for entry into the scheme, as they did meet the eligibility requirements for payment under the measure.

All farmers in BEAM will be written to in the coming weeks to explain their obligations under the measure in relation to the nitrates reduction.

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