Proposals for the €50m Beef Fund
FARMING representative organisations have outlined their proposals for the distribution of the €50 million Beef Compensation Fund.
The ICMSA and the IFA have separately written to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to outline their ideas for the €50 million fund.
ICMSA president Pat McCormack said that the fund should be open to all farmers who finish cattle and payable on animals slaughtered above eight months of age.
‘The Association has proposed a reference period of the year running from June 12, 2019 to June 11, 2020 and have also proposed 80 cattle as the maximum number for which payment can be sought. The basis for this is that farmers who slaughtered cattle during this period have suffered from Brexit or Covid-related losses and farmers typically slaughter similar numbers each year.
‘By picking a full year, we are reflecting the fact that all farmers who slaughtered cattle over that period have suffered losses and while the reality is that the €50 million fund will only partially compensate farmers for their losses, it is still important that all farmers’ losses are recognised,’ Mr McCormack said.
The association has also proposed that animals reared in the Republic, but slaughtered in Northern Ireland are included in the scheme.
It also called for payments to beef farmers from the fund to be made as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the IFA submission proposes a minimum of €100 per finished animal and the payment of funds retrospectively from the date of the Minister for Agriculture’s announcement.
‘Beef finishers have incurred significant beef price losses from Covid-19 and other market disturbances this spring, resulting in severe economic impact on their farm enterprises and family farm income,’ IFA president Tim Cullinan said.
In a letter to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the IFA said that the payments under the scheme should be targeted at cattle finishers who had incurred the most financial losses, with all payments applied from the announcement date. The farmers’ body also argue that there should be no limit on the numbers of eligible animals per each qualifying farm.