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The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) has called on the Department of Agriculture to finalise details with regard to landscape actions (LAs).
This is essential for commonage farmers operating in Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme co-operation zones, the farm organisation said.
INHFA president Vincent Roddy said the landscape actions are there to assist commonage farmers in improving their habitat scores.
“For many commonage farmers, especially those with a low score of 4 or less, possible actions such as tackling invasive species or tweaking a farming task can provide an immediate bonus that will be reflected in farmer's habitat score,” he explained.
“Actions such as these will we expect to be part of a wider range of actions available to commonage farmers in a similar manner that the non-productive investments (NPIs) are there to support farmers on their private lands,” Roddy added.
Habitat scores
With farmers finally getting to see their habitat scores almost two years after joining ACRES, many farmers are now looking to see how they can improve their score, he said.
It is essential that all farmers can take action on this prior to any further assessments, he added.
“For this reason, we need to see the Department of Agriculture publish the list of landscape actions so the co-operation teams can discuss and work with farmers and their advisers around what actions can best deliver for them.”
The INHFA welcomed the opening of the application window for the NPIs for 2024, but stressed that lessons must be learned by the Department following the previous NPI applications.
He said there are “thousands of farmers left in limbo following applications made last autumn, that the Department have still not sanctioned.”
With the Department looking to claim back money from some farmers it is, he added, “galling that many farmers that were asked to pay back money, were not given the opportunity to carry out their NPIs. If these farmers were given such an opportunity, then it could possibly have eliminated the need to pay back any money.
“This is why we are once again asking that no money is recovered from farmers this year, as there will be ample opportunity through the NPIs, LAs and future payments for farmers to address this issue.”
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