€76.5m paid to 17,000 farmers in first ACRES payment run

A total of €76.5m was paid to in excess of 17,000 farmers participating in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) over the last week. The payments, averaging €4,500 per farmer, were made to those participating in the ACRES General stream and represent 85% of an applicant’s total payment for year one. Balancing payments worth 15% will be released in May 2024.

The 17,000 farmers receiving payment in the first pay run represent about 37% of total participants. Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue recently announced that upwards of 18,000 farmers participating in ACRES Co-Operation will not be paid until February 2024 at the earliest, while the timeframe for the remaining 10,000 odd farmers in ACRES General to receive payment is unknown.

The Minister said “this first ACRES pay run includes all ACRES General participants that have cleared payment validations. My Department will continue, as a priority, to work on delivering all outstanding ACRES General payments as soon as possible, and on the commencement of ACRES CP payments in February 2024”.

Commenting on the revised payment dates for ACRES Co-operation participants, the minister said: “With the aim of improving both our environmental ambition and increasing our farm income support, I approved over 46,000 applications into ACRES earlier this year. It has not been without its challenges, but I want to acknowledge the intensive and focused efforts of all involved in the implementation of the scheme – of farmers, of advisers, of the ACRES Co-operation project teams and of officials across Government – who have all been working together on the first year of this new scheme”.

Tranche II applications

The minister confirmed that almost 9,200 applications have been received under tranche II, which closed on Wednesday, 13 December. He outlined that “tranche II applications will be reviewed in the coming weeks to ensure they comply with eligibility criteria”.

The minister also reiterated that in the region of just 4,000 places are available, bringing total participation under the scheme to the “50,000 maximum as outlined in Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan”. He outlined that applications which clear eligibility criteria will be ranked in line with the selection criteria outlined in the terms and conditions, and added that successful tranche II applicants will be contacted by the Department in the first quarter of 2024.

Ranking and selection

It has not been confirmed how many places are available under the different entry routes, but the minister’s announcement insinuates that ranking and selection will be used for all applications. In the region of 6,440, or 70% of applications were submitted under the ACRES General entry route, leaving approximately 2,760 applications submitted under the ACRES Co-operation stream.

There are two ranking and selection schedules in place – one to score and rank applications under ACRES General and another for the ACRES Co-Operation route. The full detail of ranking and selection criteria can be viewed at www.farmersjournal.ie.

4,300 NPIs

Meanwhile, 4,300 (23%) ACRES Co-Operation farmers submitted applications under the Non-Productive Investment portal.

The Department explains that ACRES advisers submitted just under 44,000 NPIs as part of these 4,300 farmers’ annual NPI work plan.

It explains that ACRES Co-Operation project teams will now begin processing and screening individual actions at farm level to “ensure the right action in the right place”.

Training payments

The scheme update released by the Department adds that payments under the ACRES Training Scheme (ATS) are issuing on an ongoing basis.

“This ACRES pay run includes almost two-thirds of all ACRES General participants.

“This is consistent with the rates achieved in previous agri-environment schemes. The Department will continue to process payments until all valid claims are paid.”