Details of €50m beef aid package announced

Details of the new €50m Beef Finisher Payment Scheme have been announced by the Minister for Agriculture Dara Calleary.

The fund, which was initially announced in June by the previous Minister for Agriculture Micheal Creed, will see €50m being paid out to a potential 42,000 beef finishers. Commenting on the scheme, Minister Calleary said: “I am fully aware of the difficulties caused by COVID-19 in the Irish beef sector and the consequences for those in beef farming and for the rural economy as a whole.

The closure of the food service market in Ireland, the UK and beyond has had a dramatic impact on the industry

“Farmers with finished animals suffered from both reduced prices and other restrictions in getting animals to market.

“The closure of the food service market in Ireland, the UK and beyond has had a dramatic impact on the industry and in particular those who supply it to make their living.”

A similar scheme which was announced in 2019 called the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) delivered €100m to beef finishers and suckler farmers.

As BEAM was co-financed by the EU, there was a clause attached to reduce stock numbers during the period 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021. However there is no clause attached to this scheme, which will be a relief to farmers who wish to apply.

There had been calls from some farm organisations to divide the fund by the total amount of animals slaughtered in 2019

According to official Department of Agriculture figures, there were 598,705 prime cattle slaughtered during the reference period of 1 February to 12 June 2020. When cuts are applied for factory feedlot cattle and a 100 head payment cap, this figure comes closer to 500,000 cattle, which when divided by €50m equates to €100/head.

If all eligible farmers apply, it would mean an average payment of €1,190/farm.

There had been calls from some farm organisations to divide the fund by the total amount of animals slaughtered in 2019 and there were also calls to compensate suckler farmers with some of the fund.

The Irish Farmers Association had called for the payment to be €100/head, saying anything less would be meaningless to farmers who lost money finishing cattle in spring 2020.

Some €50m in funding has been allocated to the scheme.

The money will be paid out to farmers who slaughtered cattle during the period 1 February to 12 June 2020.

Once animals were over eight months of age at the time of slaughter, they are eligible for payment.

Animals must have been resident in the qualifying herd for at least 30 days to be eligible for payment

Dairy farmers are eligible for payment, along with dairy cows slaughtered during the reference period, regardless of grade.

Animals must have been resident in the qualifying herd for at least 30 days to be eligible for payment.

If not, the previous owner will be eligible if they are an applicant and have also kept the animal for a minimum of 30 days.

Application procedure

The scheme will open for applications on 19 August 2020 and the closing date will be 9 September 2020.

It is thought that the application process will be relatively simple, with the Department of Agriculture having the information that is needed for payment via the animal identification and movements system (AIMS) database.

Applications will need to be completed online via the agfood.ie portal.

Factory-owned feedlot cattle are not eligible for payment

Payments are likely to issue in November 2020, the Irish Farmers Journal understands. The payment rate will be €100/head and the maximum number of animals that a farmer can get paid on is 100, so the maximum payment under the scheme will be €10,000.

To be eligible for payment, farmers must have an active herd number, applied for Basic Payment Scheme in 2020 and be a member of the Bord Bia Beef and Lamb quality assurance scheme or undertake to join by 30 September 2020.

Factory-owned feedlot cattle are not eligible for payment and agent or dealer cattle are also ruled out of receiving the payment.