Bord Bia has received almost 2,000 new applications to its Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme since the beginning of 2023.

This is down to farmers requiring to be SBLAS-approved for the new Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP).

“Bord Bia has been planning for increased applications to the SBLAS in 2023 and, through our audit bodies, we are in the process of recruiting additional auditors to meet this capacity,” a Bord Bia spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“Bord Bia encourages current members nearing the end of their certification period to contact Bord Bia to schedule their audit.

“If a farmer is considering, or in any way interested in the SCEP and are not currently members of SBLAS, then they should register with Bord Bia straight away so that we can allocate resources for those audits,” they added.

The spokesperson added that Bord Bia does not differentiate the type of farm enterprise at application stage so it was unable to confirm if the 2,000 or so applications were from solely beef only farms or whether they were mixed farms.

At the end of 2022, SBLAS membership stood at 53,551 farmers. In 2021, the figure was 54,095.

Bord Bia data shows that in 2021, beef only members numbered 42,015, while mixed beef and lamb members were 51,939.

In 2022, beef only members were 41,699, and beef and lamb members were 51,415.

10,000 applications

Bord Bia’s Damien Murray told a SCEP meeting last week that the reason for the SBLAS requirement for the scheme was due to the area of sustainability and capturing carbon output on farms.

He said that 53% of BDGP farmers were in the QA scheme and that Bord Bia is expecting between 8,000 and 10,000 new applications from farmers in the coming months.

“We are currently seeing about 300 new applications coming in each week and we have contracted extra auditors to deal with the increasing number of applications,” he said.

He added that farmers should give two months for their initial application to be fully approved.

“My advice is to act now and don’t leave it until the last minute,” he said.