Farmers will receive their 2022 Results Based Environment Agri Pilot Project (REAP) scheme payments this week.

Making the announcement on Tuesday 20 December, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said that €12m will be paid to 3,300 farmers.

This figure of 3,300, the Minister said, represents 90% of all farmers who took part in the scheme.

"REAP is a farmer-friendly pilot scheme and we explored how we can bring greater environmental and biodiversity value to how we farm. "Using this new approach, the project has been a great success and has paved the way for the broadening of the results-based approach through ACRES," he said.

REAP, he added, enabled Irish farmers to modify their farming practices and to farm in a more sustainable manner and for their advisers to become more knowledgeable on results-based assessments.

Ambitious objectives

The commencement of the 2022 REAP payments will support farmers in their efforts to continue Irish agriculture’s journey to become even more sustainable and meet out ambitious climate objectives, according to the Minister.

“I look forward to seeing the benefits of REAP continued through the upscaling of the model through ACRES," he said.

One of the achievements under the project, according to Minister McConalogue, was the environmental assessment and scoring of almost 32,000ha through a combination of the low input grassland and multi-species ley scorecards.

Training

In addition to this, over 400 farm advisors were trained, along with training for all the REAP farmers participating in the results-based approach.

In conjunction with their adviser, REAP farmers undertook environmental improvement works to increase the environmental value of their land, with the aim of improving their score in year two, which, according to the Minister, was another benefit of the scheme.

"The roll-out of REAP also fulfilled the Government’s commitment to pilot an agri-environment project during the CAP transition period, supported by additional exchequer funding.

"REAP paved the way for the introduction of results-based measures on a broader scale under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES)," he said.