The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed that farmers who applied to the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) will not be notified this month if they were successful.
According to the DAFM, ACRES contracts for successful applicants start from January 1, 2023.
However, applicants are not likely to hear from the department until the “beginning of February”.
In a statement to Agriland, the DAFM said:
“The department has commenced the application assessment process which includes verification of applications against the criteria outlined in the scheme terms and conditions.
“There are a number of stages to be completed before approvals can issue.”
But Independent TD Seán Canney said it is important that the DAFM prioritises the processing of ACRES applications.
“The department pushed the scheme significantly so now they need to respond to the number of applicants and if they need to assign additional staff to ACRES to process the applications this should be done.
“ACRES applications need to be processed as soon as possible so that farmers know if they have been successful and can start to plan accordingly. There cannot be any delay in the whole process because it just doesn’t affect farmers it also has an impact on advisers,” the Galway east TD said.
According to the DAFM a total of 46,000 applications were received under Tranche 1 of the new €1.5 billion agri-environment scheme.
ACRES places
Budget 2023 had allocated funding for 30,000 places under Tranche 1 of ACRES. A further 20,000 places have been allocated to the scheme under Tranche 2.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has said on a number of occasions that he hopes to secure additional funding to extend Tranche 1 of the new agri-environment scheme to include all applicants.
It is understood he is exploring other funding options under the latest €9.8 billion Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which came into effect on January 1.
Noel Feeney, president of the Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA), said farmers are increasingly anxious to know if they have secured a place on ACRES.
“We’re receiving a lot of inquiries from farmers about ACRES currently and unfortunately we cannot tell them anything.
“Farmers are very keen to find out if they are in ACRES, we know there was a big demand for the scheme with 46,000 applicants so they are keen to know what is happening. Farmers will get direct notification from the department if they are successful,” the ACA president said.
Feeney has said it is important that Minister McConalogue finds the means to include farmers who want to be part of ACRES.
“It would be a retrograde decision if all farmer applications to ACRES cannot be accommodated when the selection process commences,” he added.
The chairperson of the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee, the Fianna Fáil TD for Tipperary, Jackie Cahill, said he would also be disappointed if Minister McConalogue fails to extend the scheme to include all applicants.
“There were a huge number of applications to ACRES and we have to accept that those applications now have to be processed and that will take time to work through.
“But the scheme can deliver environmental benefits such as reducing emissions so it is important that on that basis all applicants are accepted,” Deputy Cahill added.
He said it is now important to address concerns about Tranche 2 and the number of places that may be available on the scheme in light of the over-subscription of Tranche 1.
Deputy Cahill said this will need to be “monitored” if there are indications that Tranche 2 might also need to be extended to provide additional places.