Farmers required to reduce the bovine nitrogen produced on their farms by 5% as part of the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) are to have access to up to date figures from November.

The €100m BEAM scheme was funded by the EU and the Irish exchequer to support farmers affected by market disturbance caused by Brexit uncertainty.

A key requirement was for farmers to commit to reducing bovine livestock nitrogen production by 5% from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021 compared with the period 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.

Up to now, herds have only had access to their annual figure which has led to some confusion around the level of reduction required on some farms.

Monthly

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has confirmed that the figure is expected to be available on a monthly basis from November to assist farmers in monitoring changes on their farm.

The figure will be available to view via the exceptional aid measure link on agfood.ie.

Almost half of farmers are already meeting the 5% reduction clause

Speaking in the Dáil on Tuesday he said the most recent analysis of farmers signed up to the scheme showed two thirds had already started to make adjustments to meet the reduction requirement

Almost half of farmers are already meeting the 5% reduction clause, he said.

Those who failed to comply with the measure will face a clawback on the payment made at the end of 2019.

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