Farmers' head-wrecker: how to qualify for BEAM's €77.72m

Complex beef compensation scheme may be costly for some

How can you check that your herd will produce 5% less manure nitrogen in the year to next July? That's the difficult task for farmers to ensure their BEAM compensation payment is not clawed back from them.

The BEAM scheme has proved to be head-wrecker for many farmers, and some may have to forego their payment, because getting rid of enough cattle to qualify for it would leave a financial loss.

The government’s Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) in 2019 offered €100m funded 50/50 by the EU and Ireland to beef farmers,  as compensation for low cattle prices cuts.