The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has given a county-by-county breakdown of the number of farmers that applied for the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP).
According to the figures, a total of 20,524 SCEP applications were made across the Republic of Ireland.
Unsurprisingly, counties located in northwest, west and southwest of Ireland had the highest numbers of applications, with eastern counties having the lowest numbers of applications.
The table below gives a breakdown of the number of SCEP applications in each county following the closing date of the scheme:
County Number of applications Carlow 268 Cavan 999 Clare 1,791 Cork 1,537 Donegal 1,067 Dublin 54 Galway 2,428 Kerry 1,050 Kildare 224 Kilkenny 464 Laois 460 Leitrim 771 Limerick 597 Longford 642 Louth 163 Mayo 1,886 Meath 479 Monaghan 765 Offaly 437 Roscommon 1,196 Sligo 809 Tipperary 832 Waterford 243 Westmeath 650 Wexford 409 Wicklow 303 Total 20,524
As the table above indicates, Co. Galway had the highest number of SCEP applicants with 2,428 farmers applying to the scheme. This was followed by Co. Mayo with 1,886 suckler farmers applying for SCEP funding.
Co. Clare had the third-highest number of applicants with 1,791 suckler farmers applying to the scheme.
Excluding Co. Dublin, with with 54 applicants, Co. Louth had the lowest number of SCEP applications with 163.
This was followed by Co. Kildare with 224 applications and then counties Waterford and Carlow with 243 and 268 applications respectively.
SCEP
The number of farmers participating in SCEP is slightly higher than the number of farmers that participated in the scheme’s predecessor, the Beef Data Genomics Programme (BDGP).
According to the DAFM, approximately 22,000 suckler beef farmers were participating in the BDGP as of 2021.
The SCEP will pay participating farmers €150/cow on the first 22 cows and €120/cow on subsequent cows.
In each scheme year, applicants must calve at least 50% beef-breed animals of the yearly reference number.