EXCESSIVE paperwork and unreasonable conditions could put off a cohort of farmers from joining the new suckler cow scheme which starts this year, a farm leader has warned this week.

Connacht IFA Chair, Pat Murphy, told the Farming Tribune that he didn’t see the reasoning behind applicants having to be in the Bord Bia Quality Assurance in order to qualify.

“The vast majority of suckler farmers sell off their weanlings on an annual basis and we just don’t see the necessity of making them join the Quality Assurance Scheme.

“Really, this is just adding on an extra layer of unnecessary paperwork on farmers who operate a very straightforward system in terms of selling off their weanlings every year,” said Pat Murphy.

The Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) replaces the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) with the application process set to commence in the middle of next month (March), with the closing date likely to be in mid-May. It will run for five years – 2023 to 2027.

Existing suckler farmers will be presented with their suckler calving data by the Dept. of Agriculture from 2016 to 2021 inclusive with the ‘best three years’ taken as the average for the reference figure.

The payment rate will be €225 per hectare for the first 15 hectares and €180/ha for the next 25/ha, giving a maximum annual payment figure of €7,875.

According to Pat Murphy, while no farmer would want to miss out on an income stream in what is already a low-return enterprise, he could see some people turning away from applying because of the paperwork and record keeping involved.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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