The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has warned that the 4,000 places that are available in tranche 2 of the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) will “fall far short of expected demand”.
When ACRES was first announced last year, it was envisaged that it would cater for 50,000 entrants.
It was subsequently announced by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue that these 50,000 entrants would be spread across two application tranches, the first catering for 30,000 and the second for 20,000.
However, tranche 1, which was open earlier this year, saw a very large degree of oversubscription, with 46,000 farmers applying. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) decided to accept all valid applications, leaving only 4,000 places in the scheme available in tranche 2.
Minister McConalogue confirmed last week that tranche 2 of ACRES would be open to 4,000 applicants.
Michael Biggins, the chairperson of the IFA’s Rural Development Committee, has called on the minister to cater for more farmers in the scheme, with considerably more than 4,000 farmers expected to apply.
“With tranche 2 set to open shortly, it is vital that the minister now finds the necessary funding to accommodate all eligible applicants,” Biggins said.
“Under the existing CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) 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.”
According to Biggins, “technicalities” should not be allowed to hinder the progress of the scheme.
“We either want to achieve our environmental targets, or we don’t. The ambition of farmers needs to be matched by adequate resources,” Biggins said.
Acres tranches
The IFA representative added: “In tranche 1, we saw 46,000 farmers apply for 30,000 places on the scheme. The 4,000 places remaining will fall far short of expected demand.
“We are hearing there could be 2,000 farmers interested in the south-west region alone. The level of demand will be multiples of what there is current provision for.”
Biggins claimed that many farmers avoided applying for the scheme in tranche 1 for a number of reasons, while other farmers were not eligible to apply in tranche 1.
“Many farmers put off applying for ACRES in tranche 1 due to changes in leasing arrangement, land transfers, etc.,” Biggins continued.
“New entrants to farming were also locked out of the scheme in 2022 as they had not made a Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) application in 2021, which rendered them ineligible for tranche 1.
“The extra €40 million in funding to ACRES announced in the budget last week will simply finance those that got in under Tranche 1.”
Biggins said that the budget money will not solve the problem of many farmers wanting to get into ACRES, spending money engaging with planners and getting plans developed, only to find their application is unsuccessful.
“We need proactive solutions here fast. A great deal of low-income families, particularly those in vulnerable sectors, rely on agri-environment programmes to survive,” he stressed.
“At a time when there is so much focus on climate change and biodiversity, it is imperative that all farmers who apply for ACRES under tranche 2 are included,” the IFA rural development chair said.
These concerns have been echoed by the Agricultural Consultants’ Association (ACA), whose president, Noel Feeney, told Agriland that there could be at least 15,000 to 20,000 farmers keen to get in to ACRES in tranche 2.
Feeney said: “We already know there will be huge demand from farmers and if there are only 4,000 spaces available then that’s obviously going to cause problems, because the demand is clearly there, but we’ll just have to wait and see what the government’s response will be to that.
“We saw previously that Minister McConalogue found the funding get all the 46,000 farmers who initially applied to ACRES into the scheme, so we will have to wait and see what happens.
“With all changes coming down the line with the nitrates derogation, it is easy to see why farmers want to get involved in the scheme to improve water quality and address climate change,” Feeney added.