Suckler scheme 'failing to improve the herds of smaller farmers' - TD
The objective of the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) is to provide support to suckler and beef farmers to improve the environmental sustainability of the national beef herd.
A TD has said that the new suckler scheme is "failing totally to improve the herds of smaller farmers".
The objective of the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) is to provide support to suckler and beef farmers to improve the environmental sustainability of the national beef herd.
The programme aims to build on the gains already delivered through the Beef Data and Genomics Programme, which finished in December, and the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme by improving the genetic merit of the herd.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said that he is confident that the new scheme will "drive further improvements in what are already world-class suckler and beef herds".
At the moment, the minister confirmed this week, there are 3,513 participants in SCEP who have reference animals of 10 or fewer, which equates to 16.9% of the total applicants to the scheme.
"There is a challenge there for some smaller herds in particular. They tend to be cases where they are not dependent on that income, are not full-time when there are fewer than 10 in the herd," Mr McConalogue told the Dáil on Thursday.
"Often there is off-farm income involved as well where there is a suckler herd of fewer than 10.
"Therefore, take-up of schemes, not just SCEP, can sometimes be less for a smallholding like that than it is for a larger holding that is more dependent on that income. Sometimes it is not attractive to those with fewer numbers than it is for those who might have more than 10, 20 or 30 in a herd."
Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív told the minister that the scheme is "failing totally to improve the herds of smaller farmers".
One of the eligibility conditions of the SCEP, as set by the Department of Agriculture, is that participants must also become certified members of the Bord Bia Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme (SBLAS) by October 16, 2023.
"For many of our small farmers, on condition that they do not finish the cattle or do not have them for the last 90 days, why is the Bord Bia requirement there?" Mr Ó Cuív asked the minister.
"From my own experience, very few farmers in the Connemara region of my constituency are in the scheme. Of course, those in the good land region around the Neale and Cross in Mayo and east of the Corrib River are in the scheme, but the small farmers are just walking away.
"Even though they might take part in the Agri-Climate Rural Environmental Scheme and in other schemes, they are walking away on this one."
Mr McConalogue responded, saying that "it has always been a challenge to get smaller herds into the suckler schemes".
"That was the experience with the previous scheme as well. This scheme is much more attractive in terms of pay rates," he said.
"That is a big increase in the funding we are giving to farmers who would have fewer than 10 cows."
Mr McConalogue said that the decision to add the Bord Bia membership requirement "was made in the strategic interest of improving our suckler and beef herd and especially the value of the animals we sell and market abroad".
"At the moment, if it is on a quality-assured farm for the last 90 days, it qualifies as quality-assured," he said.
"We must broaden the scheme as we go forward to make sure we stay ahead of other competing nations and to make sure our produce stays on the shelves ahead of that of other countries.
"This means it needs to be more than the final 90 days. We need to try to ensure more suckler farmers are quality assured as well."
