ACRES ‘carrot’ driver of high land prices

The expectation was that around 30,000 farmers would apply for ACRES, but the number of applicants was 53% higher than expected at 46,000.

While the levels of panic associated with the flaring of leasing prices have come from the more ‘stick’-like approach of progressive farmers having the stark choice of either reducing herd numbers or getting more land quickly, one of the more ‘carrot’-like measures introduced in the new CAP regime has proven much more popular than expected.

It points, perhaps, towards the kind of approach that Irish farmers want to buy into; displaying the truth that those who work the land appreciate more than anyone else how best to safeguard it over the long term.