Farmers who applied to the new Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) could receive a “gap payment” in 2023 if they are locked out of the first year of the scheme.Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue have discussed a potential workaround to the massively oversubscribed scheme to ensure that farmers do not miss out on an environmental payment in 2023.
Farmers who applied to the new Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) could receive a “gap payment” in 2023 if they are locked out of the first year of the scheme.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue have discussed a potential workaround to the massively oversubscribed scheme to ensure that farmers do not miss out on an environmental payment in 2023.
An Taoiseach told the Irish Farmers Journal that a gap payment could tide farmers over until they can access the scheme.
“The last thing we want to say to farmers is that there aren’t enough places on the scheme,” he said.
Some 46,000 farmers applied for 30,000 places in the 2023 scheme.
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