Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail the proportion of farmers participating in the Beef Carbon Reduction Scheme that farm in land classified as (i) disadvantaged; and (ii) severely disadvantaged.
Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs: Table 1 details the number of businesses who have opted in to the Beef Carbon Reduction Scheme since its inception. The figures are broken down by businesses that have land classified as disadvantaged and severely disadvantaged.
Businesses can opt in without penalty, and need to have met both business, and animal eligibility requirements in order to receive a BCR payment.
Table 1: Number of farm businesses who have opted in to the Beef Carbon Reduction Scheme since its inception, broken down by land classification of businesses.
| Land Classification 1 | No. of businesses |
| Disadvantaged (DA) | 3,070 |
| Severely Disadvantaged (SDA) | 4,173 |
| Lowland (LL) | 3,615 |
| Combination of SDA, DA and LL | 6,096 |
| TOTAL | 16,954 |
1Not all businesses have land classification information for 2024. 2025 Land classification information is not available until after the Single Application has closed. Businesses that are not BPS eligible will not appear in the land classification data. Other reasons for there being no land classification information include business closed due to death and dormant businesses.
ENDS
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