'More is needed' to get all interested farmers into ACRES
Irish Farmers' Association national rural development chairman Michael Biggins said it is vital that funding is found to accommodate all eligible applicants.
With tranche two of the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) to open for applications in early November, "more is needed" to get all interested farmers into the scheme.
Irish Farmers' Association national rural development chairman Michael Biggins said it is vital that funding is found to accommodate all eligible applicants.
"Under the existing CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027, ACRES has a target for 50,000 applicants, but changes must be made to accommodate more, if more farmers are willing and interested in improving the biodiversity, water quality, and environmental status of their holding," Mr Biggins said.
"Technicalities cannot hinder progress. We either want to achieve our environmental targets or we don’t. The ambition of farmers needs to be matched by adequate resources."
In tranche one there were 46,000 farmers who applied for 30,000 places on the scheme.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has increased the allocation for ACRES by €40m bringing the total scheme allocation to €200m.
"This is a substantial increase on the 2023 budget of €160m. The provision of additional funding will allow us to deliver on the Government’s commitment to have 50,000 farmers participating in ACRES," he said.
"There was unprecedented demand for places in tranche one and having ensured all 46,000 farmers could participate in that tranche, I am delighted to now open tranche two to a further 4,000 farmers."
According to Michael Biggins, the 4,000 places remaining "will fall far short of expected demand".
"We are hearing there could be up to 2,000 farmers interested in the south-west region alone. The level of demand will be multiples of what there is current provision for," he said.
"New entrants to farming were also locked out of the scheme in 2022 as they had not made a Basic Payment Scheme application in 2021, which rendered them ineligible for tranche one."
Mr Biggins said that the extra €40m in funding to ACRES announced last week "will simply finance those that got in under tranche one".
"It won’t solve the problem we have now of many farmers wanting to get into ACRES, spending money engaging with over-stretched planners and getting plans developed, only to find that demand far exceeds allocated places and their application is unsuccessful," he added.
"We need proactive solutions here fast."
Advance payments for those currently in tranche one of ACRES are being processed by the Department of Agriculture with payments scheduled to commence towards the end of November.
