Suckler scheme is under pressure
THE willingness of Agriculture Minister, Simon Coveney, to implement key changes in the Beef Data and Genomics Scheme (BDGP) over the coming weeks will determine whether the project ‘works or is a complete flop’, Connacht’s leading IFA official said this week.
Connacht IFA Regional Chairman, Tom Turley, told the Farming Tribune that the scheme was either going to ‘live or die’ on a number of key decisions to be taken by the Minister for Agriculture over the coming weeks.
He said, that as things stood, only 27,000 out of the country’s 65,000 suckler farmers had applied for entry to the scheme with the very real possibility that a significant number of those 27,000 would also pull out due mainly to the ‘big stick’ aspects of what had been announced.
“We have no doubt whatsoever that it’s within the gift of the Minister to make a number of key changes to the scheme that will transform it from being a disaster to a very effective improvement programme for the Irish suckler herd,” said Tom Turley.
The three areas of critical importance that needed to be changed, said Mr. Turley are:
■ The introduction of a mid-term (three years) opt-out option without penalty for farmers, who for one reason or another, could be getting out of suckler cows.
■ A significant easing of the 60% genomic testing requirement – something that would place an unrealistic burden on suckler farmers.
■ New flexibilities to be introduced to allow farmers get paid for the actual number of suckler cows they had the previous year, and not to be tied to the 2014 (or possibly 2015) reference years.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.