There are a number of schemes which are funded by the National Exchequer or other avenues of CAP and these play an important role in supporting family farm income. The Beef Environmental Efficiency Payment-Sucklers, or BEEP-S as it is commonly known, has been well received by suckler farmers in recent years.

It has provided payments totalling in the region of €40m to some 25,000 farmers and has recorded a higher participation rate than the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP).

Some industry commentators point to a one-year scheme being more attractive than the five-year contract in BDGP, while the payment rate of €90 for the first 10 cow-calf pairs and €80 per cow-calf pair thereafter up to a maximum of 100 cow-calf pairs also added to its appeal.

The scheme will continue in 2023 but with some changes. It will now be known as the Beef Welfare Scheme and the level of funding allocated has reduced from €40m to €28m for 2023. This funding is thought to be linked to the Brexit Adjustment Reserve. It is envisaged that the payment will be in the region of €70 to €90 per cow.

The weighing component of the scheme has been removed and is now included in the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP).

The details of what will replace this component have not been released yet and it is thought that the popular meal feeding action will remain in place, and possibly be combined with a health initiative and maybe even a component such as silage testing to target feeding levels to nutritional requirements.

Fodder Support Scheme

The Fodder Support Scheme was introduced in 2022 to help farmers deal with the escalation in fertiliser prices, due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and increase the volume of winter fodder saved.

The scheme has been rolled over to 2023 and the 67,000 farmers who applied have been paid 57% of their total scheme payment due in 2023.

The level of payment is based on the area of ground farmers submitted in 2022

This payment has been made before fodder has been saved but the Department of Agriculture was keen to get a level of financial support out to farmers when it is most needed.

The level of payment is based on the area of ground farmers submitted in 2022. This was the most straightforward option available to streamline payments and farmers will have an opportunity to revise areas, if required, in May and June.

The payment rate of up to €100/ha or a maximum of up to €1,000 per applicant is dependent on funding being allocated in Budget 2024 with €30m in funding allocated in Budget 2023 supporting the 57% advance payment.

The remaining 47% of payments, where farmers maintain the same area as in 2022, will be made towards the end of the year.

Tillage Incentive Scheme

First introduced in 2022, the Tillage Incentive Scheme (TIS) will continue in 2023 with similar Exchequer funding of €10m allocated under Budget 2023.

The TIS will incentivise farmers to transfer grassland into tillage, offering a payment of €400/ha for doing so.

This payment will be based on a farmer recording an increase in the tillage area entered on their Basic Income Support for Sustainability application in 2023 relative to the area recorded on their Basic Payment Scheme application in 2022.

The scheme is also aimed at incentivising farmers who transferred grassland in to tillage in 2022 to maintain this area as tillage with a payment of €200/ha allocated to such lands.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has credited the scheme as contributing to a 6% to 7% increase in the area of tillage and says that he is keen to expand this further in 2023.

If the area of approximately 25,000ha which entered into the scheme in 2022 was maintained, the funding allocated would allow 12,500ha of grassland to enter the scheme in 2023.

Eligible crops listed in the 2022 scheme included oats, wheat, rye, barley, oilseed rape, maize and fodder/sugar beet. Mixed crops such as arable silage, for example, were deemed as ineligible in 2022.