395 farmers in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) are yet to submit their annual declaration for Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS).

The deadline for declarations for the LESS action under the agri-environmental scheme in respect of 2025 fell on October 31.

The declaration may be completed online by the ACRES adviser on behalf of their client(s) or by the participant themselves.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) noted that "a significant number of declarations were submitted by the deadline".

The department said that the submission of the LESS declaration after the deadline will cause a delay in the issue of payments to the farmers concerned.

"The online portal will remain open and participants are encouraged to submit the outstanding claims as soon as possible to minimise the delay in the issue of their ACRES payment," DAFM added.

ACRES

The department has reminded farmers that the annual declaration for the conservation of rare breeds action under ACRES may now be completed for 2024.

All claims in respect of 2024 should be submitted on the ACRES Rare Breeds online portal on the AgFood system no later than November 15, 2025.

Claims may also be submitted in respect of the implementation of non-productiveinvestments (NPIs) approved following the first two NPIs application windows.

1,172 NPI claims have been submitted to the department to date on behalf of farmers.

Payments

Meanwhile, DAFM has confirmed that a total of €517.3 million had been paid by November 3 2025 to ACRES participants.

Of that total, over €267.8 million is in respect of participation in the scheme in 2024, while over €249.5 million relates to participation in 2023.

The department said that almost 98% of all ACRES participants are now fully paid in respect of their participation in the scheme in 2023 and 2024.

DAFM is continuing to progress the contracts awaiting final payment in respect of 2023 and/or advance payment in respect of 2024.

Advance payments in respect of 2025 are scheduled to commence in the coming weeks.