There is increasing concern that the BEAM target of reducing organic nitrogen production on holdings by 5% during the period 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021 won’t be met.

The scheme, which was opened in August 2019, saw just over 32,000 farmers join.

It paid farmers €100/head per animal slaughtered during the period September 2018 to May 2019, up to a maximum of 100 animals. It also paid €40/cow on suckler cows that calved in 2018 up to a maximum limit of 40 cows.

The scheme fund was €100m, €50m from the Irish exchequer and €50m from the EU.

The EU put a clause in that in order to draw down the fund, scheme participants had to reduce bovine nitrogen production on their holding by 5% based on the period 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019. Failure to comply with the scheme requirements will result in 100% of the money paid being clawed back.

However there are growing concerns that many of the farmers in the scheme don’t know where they stand.

The Department of Agriculture has published a rolling 12-month average for each farmer in the BEAM section on agfood.ie but it doesn’t stipulate how many cattle a farmer can have for the rest of the reference period.

If a farmer in the scheme has done nothing about reducing stock, they must reduce stock numbers by 10% for the six months from 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2021 to hit a 5% reduction over 12 months.

The confusion is affecting sales of cattle.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal Ennis mart manager Martin McNamara said: “We have a lot of big customers who are in BEAM and don’t know where they stand in relation to their stocking rates and they have said they’re going to ease up buying because of that.

“The last thing we need next spring is farmers panic selling and beef finishers not being able to buy them because of a Government stipulation. There should be a facility for farmers to view their figures on a monthly basis.”