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The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, T.D., today confirmed that payments under the 2019 Beef Data and Genomics Programmes have commenced.

The Minister noted that

I am pleased that payments have commenced for the fifth year of this innovative Programme which will bring about reductions in Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions while also introducing genetic technology into the national herd thus improving farm profitability. Payments worth more than €17.5 million have already issued and will continue over the coming days to participating farmers who have verified their compliance with the 2019 requirements.

BDGP payments will continue to issue on an ongoing basis as more famers verify their compliance with the 2019 scheme requirements. The Minister urged participating farmers “to return all surveys and genotyping samples and/or complete the carbon navigator update as soon as possible to facilitate payment.

The Minister added

Payments under BDGP II issued last week and were preceded by payments under the Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP). In recent months my Department has been issuing payments to farmers across a range of schemes including BPS, ANC, Knowledge Transfer, GLAS, and the new Sheep Welfare Scheme.  I am very aware of the importance of these schemes for the farming community, and they provide a significant financial boost for both individual farmers and the wider rural economy.

 Since September a total of €1.62 billion has now been paid out to farmers under a range of schemes operated by my Department.