Payments under the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) have issued to 550 farm partnerships.

In January, some 630 farm partnerships were awaiting payment under the scheme.

A Department of Agriculture spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal that €2m in BDGP payments were issued this week.

“This week, payments totalling some €2m in respect of 2020 were made to 802 Beef Data and Genomics Programme participants, including 550 partnership cases.

“Payments will continue to be made under the programme over the coming weeks as participating farmers' compliance with scheme requirements are verified,” the spokesperson said.

Some 80 farm partnerships are still awaiting payment under the scheme.

Rollover

At least 80% of farmers in the BDGP scheme applied to continue in the scheme for another year.

Some 21,000 farmers were eligible to apply for the 2021 scheme, with at least 16,700 opting in to continue for another year.

The 2021 scheme was open to anybody who met the requirements of the 2020 scheme and the conditions for 2021 are the same as they were in 2020.