It has been another positive week to 10 days in terms of the Department of Agriculture rolling out vital payments under a number of schemes. Payments worth €37m were received by over 21,000 farmers participating in the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP)this week. This compares to €41.59m paid to 23,015 farmers participating in BDGP I and BDGP II in 2019.

In announcing the payments, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said BDGP payments will continue to issue on an ongoing basis as more farmers verify their compliance with the 2020 scheme requirements.

The minister urged participating farmers to return all surveys and genotyping samples and/or complete the carbon navigator update as soon as possible to facilitate payment.

There is also positive news on the scheme rollover for 2021.

“Last week, I confirmed that European Commission approval had been received for the continuity of farm schemes in 2021, including BDGP. My Department will be contacting current BDGP participants this week to explain about how they can opt into BDGP for 2021. They will receive formal letters and SMS text messages.”

The Irish Farmers Journal understands there will be no significant changes to scheme requirements, with these remaining similar to those set for 2020.

ANC and protein aid scheme

This follows last week’s payments under the Areas of Natural Constraint (balancing payment) and the Protein Aid Scheme. The payment of €40m brings total ANC payments to €238.25m paid to 94,966 participants.

There is still in excess of several thousand farmers who have not yet satisfied the stocking rate requirements, with cases continuing to be processed and paid as stocking rate thresholds are satisfied.

Payments worth €3m were announced under the Protein Aid Scheme. There were approximately 1,000 farmers in the scheme and the average payment was set at €215/ha. The financial aid provided under the scheme is targeted at underpinning the growing of beans, peas and lupins as a source of indigenous protein for animal feeds. Payments under the Basic Payment Scheme currently stand at €1.143bn paid to 121,673 farmers, following the recent release of balancing payments on 1 December.

The Department advise that there is now only a small number of participants awaiting payments, with the number of eligible BPS participants listed at 122,429.

The €1.143bn figure includes €9m of payments under the 2020 young farmers scheme and €2.8m under the 2020 National Reserve.