Some farmers could be waiting till 2026 for the final monies owed on their 2023 Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) applications, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) has claimed. In a blistering attack on the slow pace of ACRES payments, the INHFA called on the Department of Agriculture to “get its act together” and to stop hiding behind IT issues.
Some farmers could be waiting till 2026 for the final monies owed on their 2023 Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) applications, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) has claimed.
In a blistering attack on the slow pace of ACRES payments, the INHFA called on the Department of Agriculture to “get its act together” and to stop hiding behind IT issues.
The Department confirmed this week that 2,764 ACRES participants, or 6% of those in the scheme, have yet to receive their balancing payments for 2023.
A further 12,068 participants, or 22% of scheme members, have yet to receive advance payments for 2024, of whom 1,852 entered the scheme under tranche two.
Reacting to the Department’s figures, INHFA president Vincent Roddy said the “slow progress” on payments was “a major cause of concern”.
Last payments
“Last November there were 2,900 farmers who had not received their 2023 balancing payments, and we see that this has only been reduced by 200 farmers,” Roddy pointed out.
“At this rate of payment, it will be mid-2026 before all these farmers are paid,” he claimed. “If the IT system can’t process these payments, then there needs to be another method found,” the INHFA president maintained.
In relation to the 12,068 awaiting advance payments for last year, Roddy claimed that a baseline payment has already been established, derived from their 2023 payment, for around 10,000 of these ACRES participants who joined in tranche one.
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