Talking to planners and farm consultants all over the country, I understand that there are a large amount of farmers pulling out of the Beef Genomics Scheme. The Minister needs to re-consider this whole scheme now. The system of star rating for cows and bulls has been changed over the past couple of months and it is causing more and more confusion. The uptake on the scheme before the closing date was behind the anticipated target and it now looks likely that the final figures may be even worse. Farmers have made a stance on this issue that the Minister should take note of, and he should reconsider this whole scheme now. I would be in favour of abandoning this over complicated scheme altogether. If the Minster put the money for this scheme into DAS (disadvantaged area scheme) instead it would help every farmer in the West of Ireland and it would be a far simpler and more straightforward scheme for everyone.
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