The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed T.D., today announced the extension of closing dates for participants in BEEP to weigh their cows and unweaned calves and to submit the data to ICBF. Animals may now be weighed up to and including the 8 November, and weight data is to be submitted to ICBF by 5pm on 15 November.

The Minister said, “As I announced last week, payments to the value of €2 million under BEEP, have already issued to over 3,000 farmers that have completed the weighing and submission of data in respect of all of their eligible animals. I have listened carefully to requests from farm bodies and have now agreed to an extension of a further week to the dates by which animals are to be weighed and weight data submitted. My Department will continue to pay participants as individual cases are cleared, and regular pay runs will be in place over the coming weeks to ensure this.  Farmers who have been contacted by my Department with queries in relation to their applications should also respond at their earliest convenience in order to facilitate payment."

So far, weight data in respect of some 350,000 pairs (dam and calf) has been returned to ICBF. The Department will pay €40 per pair of animals to applicants who comply with the requirements. By extending the closing dates the Minster is confident that many thousands more beef farmers can comply with the conditions in time to qualify for payment by the end of December.  

Note for Editors

The BEEP is a €20 million scheme being piloted in 2019 and has been followed up in Budget 2020 with a €40 million investment in a successor scheme.  In a difficult year for beef farmers the €20 million BEEP and €78 million Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM), as well as the €45 million Beef Data & Genomics Program and increased payments under ANC, underline Government’s continued determination to support incomes in the sector.

ENDS

Date Released: 01 November 2019