Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator MacSharry. I am pleased to be here on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, who regrets that he cannot be here.

The beef data and genomics programme, BDGP, was launched by the Minister on 5 May last. It is part of Ireland's Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 and involves funding of some €300 million over the next six years and builds on the State's investment in data recording and genomics in recent years. It aims to address widely acknowledged weaknesses in the maternal genetics of the Irish suckler herd, reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of Ireland's beef production and make a positive contribution to the future viability of suckler farmers and the national suckler herd.

Beef accounts for 35% of the gross output of the agriculture sector. It is probably the most important product at farm level in Ireland. Beef exports in 2014 amounted to 524,000 tonnes, worth €2.27 billion. The suckler herd is a critical component of this industry. It is beef from the suckler herd that has principally enabled us to succeed on international retail markets. It is important, therefore, that policy at EU and national level recognises the challenges and opportunities facing suckler beef farmers and provides the infrastructure to help it to respond and thrive.

The BDGP is a response to these challenges and opportunities and particularly challenges associated with improved breeding performance, including for maternal traits such as cow fertility, and the very onerous requirements to reduce the percentage of Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions which comes from the agriculture sector. Improving the genetics of the suckler herd can make a positive contribution in both of these areas while also improving the economic viability of suckler farming. The BDGP provides targeted support to suckler farmers and builds on the success of the State's investment of over €9 million in the beef data programme in both 2013 and 2014 and on the success of the pilot beef genomics scheme, which involved investment of around €23 million last year.

Participants in the BDGP will receive a payment of €142.50 for the first 6.66 hectares and €120 for each hectare thereafter, up to a maximum payable hectarage. This is a strong commitment from this Government to the beef sector in Ireland over the next six years. In return for this payment, participants will be required to undertake six actions, some of which will be well known to suckler farmers through their participation in previous schemes. Participants will be required to complete surveys and submit information related to criteria such as milking ability, docility, size and animal vigour. Farmers will be very familiar with these surveys which were previously part of the beef data programme operated in recent years. Participants will be required to genotype animals on their farms which have been selected by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF. The number of animals to be genotyped each year will be equal to 60% of the number of calved suckler cows that the applicant had on his or her holding in 2014. These are known as the farmer's reference animals. I should add that the cost of the genotyping tag has been significantly reduced from the 2014 beef genomics scheme and now stands at €22 - a drop of over 26%.

The replacement strategy that farmers must undertake as part of the scheme requires them to ensure that a certain percentage of the animals on their herd at particular deadlines are of four or five-star rating on the Euro star ratings system. It should be noted that most farmers are already well on the way to meeting the requirement for replacement animals on their herds with significant numbers of four and five-star animals already in scheme participants' herds.

In recent weeks, the ICBF has issued every scheme applicant with detailed reports on the current status of animals in their herds. Participants will receive similar information related to the scheme and their individual herd on an ongoing basis. This is in addition to a training programme which will be rolled out over the next 12 months.Finally, farmers will be required to complete a carbon navigator on their farm with an approved adviser. The carbon navigator will not cost anything for participants to complete and farmers will be paid €166 to attend the training course for their time and expense in doing so.

The Minister does not agree that this scheme poses any threat to the quality of weanling that will be produced in the north west, quite the opposite is true. The data from ICBF and all of the research to date clearly show that progeny, that is, the weanlings, from four and five-star cows perform significantly better than weanlings from one and two-star cows. These cows have more milk, more calves and shorter calving intervals. They produce heavier weanlings which are ultimately slaughtered earlier and with more weight. These are the animals which can add value to farms in the west and we should encourage their use as replacements.

In the context of reviewing the scheme with suckler farmers - the issue Senator MacSharry raised - the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has committed to establishing a group to monitor the operation of the beef data and genomics programme, BDGP, with a view to feeding into a mid-term review. Farm bodies and other stakeholders have already been invited to nominate representatives to this group and it is expected that a first meeting of the group will take place in the near future. This is in addition to the range of clarifications made by the Minister upon the launch of the scheme. It is clear from the large number of applications received for the BDGP that farmers recognise the benefits this scheme can deliver locally and nationally. Just under 30,000 farmers applied to join the scheme and the small number that have since exited it, equivalent to approximately 2% of applicants, is in line with previous suckler-based schemes run by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

I reiterate, on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, that the BDGP involves an investment of €300 million in addressing some of the key challenges facing the beef sector in Ireland. The BDGP is the first measure of its kind anywhere in the EU and will place Ireland at the head of the international market place as a producer of high-quality, environmentally-sustainable beef. It will also boost promotional initiatives such as Origin Green, which has been a central part of Bord Bia's marketing and promotion strategy in international markets. This scheme is to be welcomed and I think the large number of applications received confirms this. The Minister now believes that we need to move ahead with implementing it to ensure we gain the most possible for the large number of farm families concerned.