Tripped up by the red tape
When farmers heard it was proposed to convert historical base year animal Direct Premia into area-based Direct Premia, they anticipated that the EU might include 2002 in its base year calculations, and set about increasing the value of their Direct Payment claims for 2002, he says.
Some went about this by switching to producing bulls rather than steers. Farmers generally became more conscious of submitting premium claims once animals had reached the minimum age limit, while others tried to purchase additional eligible animals for this purpose.
He explains that a consequence of this is that the total number of applications for Special Beef Premia (SBP) will be substantially up on the previous year, having already been set to rise because the slump in live exports has left more bullocks in Ireland.
“There is the possibility of an ‘overshoot’ on the national quota for the nine month Special Beef Premium. Should this occur, a ‘clawback’ on over-quota value of the premia will hit farmers with more than 50 eligible SBP animals. Farmers who specialise in finishing cattle, who rely very heavily on the SBP for their margins and income, would be badly hit by an overshoot”, says Mr Dunne.
The rush to claim SBP was one of many adjustments cattle farmers had to make in their farming systems to maximise their EU payments in 2002, says the Teagasc expert.
The sharp and unexpected realignment in some of the census dates for the stocking density counts for extensification endangered potentially large extensification premium payments for farmers, and forced them to unexpectedly buy and sell animals at times when cattle markets were unfavourably disrupted. Some farmers who were operating too close to the stocking density limits will be unable to make the desired adjustments, and will either lose out entirely on extensification or will have to be satisfied with the lower rate of extensification payment.
