€10m in REAP payments to issue to 3,000 farmers
Just under €10m is being issued to farmers under year one of the Results-based Environmental Agri-Pilot programme.
Just under €10m is being issued to farmers under year one of the Results-based Environmental Agri-Pilot programme.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue made the announcement today, adding that payments are to continue on a regular basis.
The current round of REAP payments includes the participation, environmental payments (calculated from field scoring and assessment) and late meadow bonus.
Payments for complementary actions (tree and hedge planting and hedge gapping) will commence when payment claims are submitted in the first quarter of 2022.
The Minister said that through REAP, "we are bringing greater environmental and biodiversity value to how we farm".
"This is part of our collective efforts to re-align Irish agriculture in support of our greater climate and biodiversity objectives.”
The two-year REAP programme was launched earlier this year to trial an agri-environment results-based scoring and payment system on farms across the country.
The project is testing the upscaling potential of the model for use in the next agri-environment scheme to follow on from the Green Low-Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme
(GLAS).
According to the Department of Agriculture, REAP will also help to identify the training needs of Irish farmers and advisors to ensure maximum participation in future agri-environmental schemes.
Under the project to date, the environmental assessment and scoring of almost 32,000 hectares using a combination of the Low Input Grassland and Multi Species Ley scorecards has been carried out, along with the training of over 400 farm advisors and the training of REAP farmers in the results-based approach.
In conjunction with their advisor, REAP participants may undertake environmental improvement works to increase the environmental value of their land with the aim of improving their score in year two.
REAP participants can also avail of financial support for the planting of trees, hedges and hedge gapping where these actions are likely to improve environmental and biodiversity quality.
