Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 December 2023
42. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers participating in suckler beef support schemes in 2020; the number participating currently; his proposals to improve participation; and the impact he believes recent beef index changes will have on suckler farmers. [55509/23]
View answerIn recognition of the importance of the suckler sector, I was delighted to secure funding for both the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) and the National Beef Welfare Scheme (NBWS) in 2023. These schemes, which have 17,610 and 16,424 participants respectively, ensured that I was able to provide a payment of €200 per suckler cow to protect beef farmer incomes this year. I was delighted to continue this funding into 2024 with over €100m directly targeted at livestock farmers.
The precursor schemes operational in 2020 - the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) and Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Sucklers (BEEP-S) had a roughly similar aggregate budget. The BDGP had 23,914 participants and 24,400 farmers joined the BEEP-S. A third scheme, the Beef Finisher Payment scheme with 27,200 participants, was implemented in 2020 as a temporary support for beef finishing enterprises severely impacted by adverse economic effects stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic.
I am very satisfied with the participation rates having regard to the voluntary nature of these supports and the need for increased ambition in measure design to meet climate change targets for the agri-food sector. I would also point out that the Teagasc farm income projections for 2023 and 2024 show increases for suckler farmers in both years due to the scheme supports available amongst other things.
As part of its remit, ICBF recently updated its beef breeding indices primarily to take account of changing economic drivers such as feed costs and beef prices. This is entirely a matter for the ICBF and I understand that the new economic values are more representative of the impact that advances in production traits have on the profitability of Irish suckler beef production systems. The rationale for updating the indices is that it will assist suckler farmers to breed animals which will generate a higher profit.
With regard to the impact of the changes for suckler farmers, I understand that 84 percent of previously rated 4 or 5-star animals retain their status after the updates. Of the remaining percentage previously evaluated as 4 or 5-star animals, roughly equal numbers will increase and decrease in status. However, some individual animals will change status within herds and all farmers should check their herd evaluations. For the purposes of compliance with SCEP, if an animal’s breeding index is increased to a 4- or 5-star rating, it will become eligible for SCEP compliance calculations but an animal with a downgraded rating has no negative effect for the herdowner because it is already counted as eligible for scheme purposes.
I am advised that ICBF has communicated extensively with producers to explain the changes to the indices. Furthermore, ICBF has committed to convening an industry stakeholder forum to address issues and concerns raised by suckler farmers and pedigree breeders which I very much welcome. The revision of the indices is a matter for ICBF but my Department will continue to monitor the impact of the index changes on suckler farm enterprises and scheme participation closely.
