The new Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) will open for applications in the next few days.

Farm organisations have met the Department of Agriculture about making some changes to the new programme, but given the tight timelines, it is unclear as to whether these changes will be made.

One of the proposed changes that the IFA has sought is the requirement to have 80% of calves born from four-star and five-star sires in year one (2023) of the programme.

IFA livestock chair Brendan Golden said: “We have asked the Department of Agriculture to change this requirement to allow farmers a chance to breed cows to four- and five- star sires this year.”

The Department of Agriculture is targeting at least 20,000 applications for the new programme but there is a worry that applications could fall well short of this.

The new programme has generated a lot of debate already around some of the higher targets in relation to stars.

The greatest contention has been around the requirement to join the Bord Bia quality assurance scheme. Applicants to SCEP will be required to be fully approved members of the Bord Bia quality assurance scheme by October 2023.

Survey

An Irish Farmers Journal survey of readers in early February found that over 75% of beef farmers surveyed disagreed with the requirement to be Bord Bia quality assured as part of the new scheme. Suckler to weanling farmers have questioned the benefits of joining the assurance scheme.

The Department has said that farmers must be part of the assurance scheme to have an evidence-based and reliable way of capturing the carbon footprint on farms.