Commission: Decision to change BEAM dates is government responsibility
The European Commission has replied to a letter from Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, and told him that the decision to change reference dates under the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) scheme is within the responsibility of the Irish government.
AgriLand understands that the commission informed the minister that, as the dates under the scheme were not directly contained in the EU regulation, the decision to change those dates is therefore the responsibility of the government here.
The minister is seeking to change the reference period for the reduction of livestock manure nitrogen from the current period of July 1, 2020 to June 31, 2021 to a new period of January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has sought a BEAM scheme extension from Brussels. \ Philip Doyle.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has received no confirmation yet about the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) extension he requested from Brussels.
Last week, the
Irish Farmers Journal revealed that the Minister has sought an extension to the scheme, in order for farmers to meet the 5% organic nitrogen reduction requirement.
He has sought a new reference period of 1 January to 31 December 2021 for the 18,000 farmers who are yet to meet the 5% target and face having some €40m of their money clawed back.
“I’m hoping for an early answer from [the European] Commission, haven’t received confirmation that it will be granted yet,” he said told TDs at Tuesday’s meeting of the Oireachtas agriculture committee.
Pressure is mounting on Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to secure a solution for farmers who are not on track to meet the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) 5% nitrogen reduction.
It has turned into a hot topic with questions being raised over the Department of Agriculture’s ability to let farmers know accurately where they stand.
At the IFA’s Connacht regional meeting, farmer Gabriel Costello summed up farmer frustrations when he said: “The real issue around the BEAM controversy is centred on the Department’s reluctance, refusal, resistance, whatever you want to call it, to use AIMS via some kind of an online calculator to help us calculate the nitrogen.
BEAM: How do farmers know where they stand?
The topic of Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) is one that has made and will continue to make the headlines over the next few weeks.
The main confusion is based on farmers’ current requirement to reduce the production on the holding of bovine livestock manure nitrogen by 5% for the period July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, as compared with the period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.
We have heard plenty of debates in recent months regarding this requirement, but for the time being it is here to stay.
Nitrates allocation
For this requirement, the focus is on the level of nitrogen from bovine livestock manure. The figures are calculated by taking the average number of animals in each age category you have over the 12 month period from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021.
Current reports presented to farmers on Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) livestock reduction targets are “misleading” according to independent TD, Denis Naughten.
He has called on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue to provide each farmer with transparent information that can be used to determine if farmers will comply with the July 2021 target or not.
In the Dáil this week deputy Naughten will request that the Minister for Agriculture provide a report on bovine livestock manure nitrogen under the BEAM scheme that actually reflects the farm stocking levels from July 1 to December 31, 2020.
He is also proposing that it would include what the projected reduction on June 30, 2021 would be, if there is no change in stock over the coming period.