ICSA president Dermot Kelleher has welcomed the common-sense decision to allow more time for farmers in the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) to become fully accredited to the Bord Bia SBLAS (Quality Assurance Scheme). Mr Kelleher said that ICSA had proposed this to the Minister at the ploughing as many suckler farmers were in danger of not qualifying for the SCEP as they were in risk of not getting the certification process completed on time.

The new extension means that farmers in SCEP must have applied to Bord Bia by October 16, but now have until January 22, 2024, to become certified.

“ICSA has always been adamant that tying a suckler scheme to Bord Bia is fundamentally wrong on several fronts. However, the rule is now written in stone, and we have to face the fact that many farmers have already signed up for this, so our objective now is to get the all the money available to farmers.”

“I understand why many suckler farmers have a deep-seated reluctance to enter the SBLAS, particularly if they are selling most of their stock in the mart. However, I would ask that farmers should not give up on the payment worth €150/head on the first 22 cows without at least trying to get into the SBLAS scheme. Some of the previous problems with Quality Assurance schemes have been ironed out and it is now the case that farmers don’t fail on inspection. Instead, they get a chance to rectify any shortcomings. Moreover, the inspection process has been streamlined so it takes less time than previously.”

“Some farmers are making the process easier by hiring professionals to do the advance preparation and some farmers are finding software packages on your phone can be a big help around animal remedy records. ICSA will provide advice to any member who wants to discuss the options.” 

“The SCEP scheme will be worth a payment of €15,000 over the next five years to a suckler farmer with 20 eligible cows. In my view, it’s a lot of money to leave behind due to fears over the Bord Bia scheme and the old adage comes to mind – if you’re not in, you can’t win.” 

ENDS