The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) reports 11,520 applicants have successfully completed the carbon navigator as part of the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP).

The DAFM reports there are approximately 12,500 farmers who have yet to complete the navigator before the 31 October deadline and are committed to continuing to work with these applicants as the deadline approaches.

“All participating farmers have been reminded of the requirement to complete their carbon navigator by the end of October on a number of occasions, including recently by both letter and text,” a spokesperson for the Department said.

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In contrast to BDGP training, the responsibility is on the applicant to contact an approved adviser to make an appointment to complete the navigator.

Further information and a list of approved advisers is available on the Department’s website at www.agriculture.gov.ie/beefschemes.

Penalties under BDGP are based on completing each requirement, with the penalty for not completing the carbon navigator set as 10% of the overall payment.

The terms and conditions of the scheme state 50% of this carbon navigator payment will be deducted where the carbon navigator is completed zero to six months after the 31 October deadline.

Where the navigator is not completed six months after the deadline, it will lead to removal from the programme and clawback of all payments received from previous years.

77% of ANC payments completed

The DAFM reports that 76,483 farmers have received payment to date under the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC).

The total paid since payments began at the start of last week is €164.8m, with 77% of applicants paid from a total of over 99,000 applications received in 2016.

The Department says that payments are continuing to issue on a twice-weekly basis as further applications become eligible for payment.

Farmers who have received query letters or requests for outstanding information or clarification are advised to return these as soon as possible.

A significant percentage of outstanding payments also relate to stocking rate requirements being inadequate or not yet being met.

Under the terms and conditions, applicants must possess an average stocking rate of at least 0.15LU/ha over the calendar year.

Applicants must also satisfy a seven-month consecutive retention period whereby a minimum stocking rate of at least 0.15LU/ha must be possessed for each of the seven months.