Advance payments under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme commenced on Monday, with €146.94m paid to 33,794 farmers who joined the scheme in tranche I in 2023.
The advance payments have commenced ahead of schedule and represent 85% of the annual payment, with the remaining 15% likely to be paid in May/June 2026. In announcing the commencement of payments, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said that he anticipates that a further 8,000 farmers who joined via tranche II in 2024 will receive €32.69m in payments next week.
“The issuing of 2025 advance payments to 42,000 farmers, or 78% of all ACRES participants, in these first pay runs is evidence of the work done over the last year to improve the timeliness of ACRES payments. The processing of contracts for the remaining participants is continuing.”
There has been no date of payment listed for approximately 11,700 remaining cases. Weekly payment runs are in place for outstanding 2024/2023 payments and it is hoped that 2025 payments can also be added in to this payment structure as cases are cleared for payment.
Maintain momentum
Commenting on this matter the minister said: “I want to maintain the current momentum in ACRES, and a key contributor to the issuing of payments is the submission of returns by the participants. I encourage anyone who has not sent in their ACRES low emission slurry spreading (LESS) declaration for 2025 to do so as soon as possible, and I also encourage farmers undertaking the conservation of rare breeds action to send in their returns by 15 November 2025.
“The timely submission of these helps the Department to progress those contracts for payment.”
The ACRES scheme was blighted by payment delays in 2024, a fact raised by Minister Heydon in this week’s announcement.
“ACRES is an ambitious scheme and there have been challenges presented by Ireland’s level of ambition. It is clear that we are overcoming those challenges through the commitment of all those involved in the scheme – farmers themselves, ACRES advisors and the ACRES Co-operation Project Teams.”
He outlined that the latest level of payments will bring the amount paid in respect of ACRES since its commencement in 2023 to approximately €697m.
“This reflects the Government’s commitment to achieving a range of environmental, biodiversity, water quality and climate objectives by supporting farm families in their environmental journey.”
Payments update
The latest payments update published by the Department of Agriculture for the week of 3 November showed that up to this week’s payment there was a total of €517.3m paid. Approximately €249.5m of this relates to participation in 2023 and represents 99.6% of tranche I participants paid their first year’s contract.
The remaining €267.8m relates to 2024 payments and can be broken down to €228.3m paid under the 2024 advance payment to 98.9% of participants and €39.5m paid under the 2024 balancing payments to 97.7% of all participants.
The Department states that remaining payments are typically more complex payments but stated payments continues on a weekly basis across all tranches and schemes years.
\ Donal O' Leary
NPIs and training
Meanwhile, Mnister Heydon also announced the commencement of payments this week for non-productive investments (NPIs). Payments worth €1.4m were sanctioned to 588 farmers with the Minister commenting that applications from another 600 farmers who submitted payment claims are being processed.
This is a small percentage of approved NPIs. Over 76,000 investments were submitted for aid in over 9,000 applications submitted in 2023 and 2024. There is a high level of payment claims to be submitted or NPI applications which have not followed through on investments, with Minister Heydon encouraging farmers to submit payment claims.
The number of applications submitted under the latest application window which closed on 15 October was approximately 3,300 with some advisors stating that interest had waned due to the long period from applications to payment.
Advance payments under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme commenced on Monday, with €146.94m paid to 33,794 farmers who joined the scheme in tranche I in 2023.
The advance payments have commenced ahead of schedule and represent 85% of the annual payment, with the remaining 15% likely to be paid in May/June 2026. In announcing the commencement of payments, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said that he anticipates that a further 8,000 farmers who joined via tranche II in 2024 will receive €32.69m in payments next week.
“The issuing of 2025 advance payments to 42,000 farmers, or 78% of all ACRES participants, in these first pay runs is evidence of the work done over the last year to improve the timeliness of ACRES payments. The processing of contracts for the remaining participants is continuing.”
There has been no date of payment listed for approximately 11,700 remaining cases. Weekly payment runs are in place for outstanding 2024/2023 payments and it is hoped that 2025 payments can also be added in to this payment structure as cases are cleared for payment.
Maintain momentum
Commenting on this matter the minister said: “I want to maintain the current momentum in ACRES, and a key contributor to the issuing of payments is the submission of returns by the participants. I encourage anyone who has not sent in their ACRES low emission slurry spreading (LESS) declaration for 2025 to do so as soon as possible, and I also encourage farmers undertaking the conservation of rare breeds action to send in their returns by 15 November 2025.
“The timely submission of these helps the Department to progress those contracts for payment.”
The ACRES scheme was blighted by payment delays in 2024, a fact raised by Minister Heydon in this week’s announcement.
“ACRES is an ambitious scheme and there have been challenges presented by Ireland’s level of ambition. It is clear that we are overcoming those challenges through the commitment of all those involved in the scheme – farmers themselves, ACRES advisors and the ACRES Co-operation Project Teams.”
He outlined that the latest level of payments will bring the amount paid in respect of ACRES since its commencement in 2023 to approximately €697m.
“This reflects the Government’s commitment to achieving a range of environmental, biodiversity, water quality and climate objectives by supporting farm families in their environmental journey.”
Payments update
The latest payments update published by the Department of Agriculture for the week of 3 November showed that up to this week’s payment there was a total of €517.3m paid. Approximately €249.5m of this relates to participation in 2023 and represents 99.6% of tranche I participants paid their first year’s contract.
The remaining €267.8m relates to 2024 payments and can be broken down to €228.3m paid under the 2024 advance payment to 98.9% of participants and €39.5m paid under the 2024 balancing payments to 97.7% of all participants.
The Department states that remaining payments are typically more complex payments but stated payments continues on a weekly basis across all tranches and schemes years.
\ Donal O' Leary
NPIs and training
Meanwhile, Mnister Heydon also announced the commencement of payments this week for non-productive investments (NPIs). Payments worth €1.4m were sanctioned to 588 farmers with the Minister commenting that applications from another 600 farmers who submitted payment claims are being processed.
This is a small percentage of approved NPIs. Over 76,000 investments were submitted for aid in over 9,000 applications submitted in 2023 and 2024. There is a high level of payment claims to be submitted or NPI applications which have not followed through on investments, with Minister Heydon encouraging farmers to submit payment claims.
The number of applications submitted under the latest application window which closed on 15 October was approximately 3,300 with some advisors stating that interest had waned due to the long period from applications to payment.
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