Over 96% of BDGP participants have met the final deadline of 31 October according to the ICBF.

The final figure will not be known until after the next genetic evaluation run, which will take place on 24 November.

There were concerns over the last few months that there were a large number of farmers not meeting the 31 October deadline.

The numbers of farmers not meeting the scheme criteria in early September 2020 stood at 2,086, just over 9% of scheme participants.

This had reduced to 1,200 farmers outside the scheme requirements at the beginning of October.

Requirements

The requirement for the BDGP scheme was to have 50% of the reference number of animals genotyped four- or five-star on 31 October.

Failure to meet this deadline means a 140% fine for scheme participants. This would essentially mean that there would be no payment made for BDGP in 2020 and almost half of the 2019 payment would be recouped.

According to the ICBF, these fines will apply to 900 farmers or 4% of the 22,500 participants.

There have been calls from farm organisations in recent weeks to relax the deadline, but the 31 October deadline was maintained by the Department of Agriculture.