Thirty-five percent of farmers have said they do not plan on joining the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) this year, which outweighs the number of farmers who do plan on applying by 7%.

Results of the survey show that just 28% of farmers said they plan on joining the scheme, while 37% are sitting on the fence and answered ‘maybe’ to the Irish Farmers Journal survey.

When each sector was asked if they plan on applying for ACRES, the strongest no vote came from dairy farmers, 54% of whom said they won’t be applying.

Just 9% of dairy farmers fully believe the scheme to be worthwhile.

Some 40% of tillage farmers, 25% of sheep farmers and 28% of beef farmers don’t plan on applying for the scheme either.

Across all sectors, over one-third of farmers are unsure whether to apply or not, with 36% of sheep and tillage farmers unsure compared to 38% and 37% of beef and dairy farmers, respectively.

Regional preferences

The majority of farmers interested in joining ACRES are located in the west of the country with twice as many farmers interested in the scheme in Connacht compared to Leinster.

Some 41% of farmers in Connact plan on joining and the figure is lowest in Leinster at just 22%.

In Munster, 23% of farmers are interested while 33% of Ulster farmers are interested.