€20m Agri-Environment Options Scheme to reopen for applications

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has confirmed the reopening of the €20m Agri-Environment Options Scheme, with a maximum payout of €4,000 per annum for individual applicants.

Part-funded by the EU, AEOS rewards farmers for halting biodiversity loss, improving water quality, and combating climate change.

“I am delighted to be in a position to provide €20m for the AEOS scheme which will open shortly for applications,” said Mr Coveney. “The scheme will build on the success of both the Rural Environment Protection Scheme and both AEOS 1 and 2 in delivering an annual income to farmers in return for farming to high environmental standards.”

The IFA and Macra na Feirme have welcomed the confirmation of the scheme, describing it as a positive signal for ongoing CAP talks and the December budget.

However, ICSA president Gabriel Gilmartin noted the scheme will fail to fill the gap left by the closure of REPS, adding that the €4,000 ceiling is too low to allow farmers to achieve the targets of the scheme.

Up to 6,000 new participants may be accepted into the scheme, as average payments in the past have been lower than the maximum. The new scheme has some minor changes, designed to boost benefits to both farmers and the environment.

“Farmers will be paid to undertake identifiable and verifiable environmental measures from a menu of options,” said Mr Coveney.

“The scheme will be attractive to farmers while also delivering real, worthwhile environmental benefits in the areas of bio-diversity, water quality and climate change.”

As in earlier years, farmers with commonage land designated Special Areas of Conservation or Special Protection Areas will be required to follow a sustainable management plan prepared by a planner.

Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture is due to begin issuing the initial run of payments for the €154m under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme today.

Some 74,000 farmers are to be included in the initial run, including 3,750 farmers who successfully applied for derogation from the revised stocking density requirement. These changes were included as part of the range of technical adjustments which the department said were necessitated by budgetary requirements.

Mr Coveney said: “It will be recalled that I gave a firm commitment to have a system in place to consider derogation applications from farmers who could show that their inability to reach the revised stocking level of 0.3 livestock units per forage hectare in 2011 was due to circumstances outside their control.

“I am pleased to note that the processing of these appeals has not negatively impacted on achieving the payments targets and, indeed, I note that the level of payments set to issue next week compares very favourably with previous years.”

In terms of the derogation applications, decisions have been made on almost 4,000 cases, while another 950 applicants were asked to submit additional documentation. The department said it will continue to issue payments as each individual case is confirmed eligible.