The co-operation project (CP) teams that are tasked with delivering the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) in CP zones are set to meet with farmers in the coming weeks.
That’s according to Caillin Conneely, the hill farming chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), who said the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) provided the IFA with a commitment that those meetings would take place.
Conneely urged farmers to attend those meetings to get clarity on “current standings” and what can be done to increase payments in the years to come.
He was speaking after a meeting between an IFA delegation and officials from the department on a range of issues in farm schemes, specifically ACRES and the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS).
IFA deputy president Alice Doyle also took part in the meeting. Speaking afterwards, she called on the department to deliver on the latest deadlines and commitments for both schemes.
“There needs to be better engagement and dialogue with farmers. The department has to be more solutions-focused, and not simply explaining its way out of it,” she said.
“Farmers can understand some teething issues in the first year of any scheme, but what has transpired with ACRES, and to a lesser extent TAMS, simply isn’t good enough,” she added.
“When we hear of the administrative headache involved with ACRES, with up to 42 or 43 checks before payment, there has to be a simpler way. We need to learn from the lessons of the past year and ensure they aren’t repeated.”
Conneely, meanwhile, said that the CP stream of ACRES has been “very disappointing” and that farmers are “loosing faith fast”.
“Average payment in Year 1 was only €5,100 – well below half what was promised – and to rub salt in the wounds the mechanisms to improve scores/payments for future years – i.e. non-Productive Investments (NPIs) and Landscape Actions (LA) – aren’t even on the pitch yet, almost three years into a five-year scheme,” he said.
“The department and CP teams have serious questions to answer here, on the low scoring, the lack of consultation, the impact of including a 100m buffer around turbary activity, and why NPIs and LAs aren’t yet functioning,” the IFA hill farming chairperson added.
According to the IFA, the department is also considering the extension of the catch crop deadline beyond September 15, given the harvest challenges and delays.
John Curran, the IFA’s rural development chairperson, urged farmers that were overpaid on the ACRES interim payment, and have not yet made arrangements to repay this, to speak to the department as soon as possible.
“Any farmer that needs to make interim payments should talk to the department today, or certainly before the end of the week, so they can avail of the maximum options available, including repaying when suits without causing further cashflow pressure on-farm,” he said.
“For those with deductions/arrangements in place, we also got assurances that the recoupment of interim payments will in no way impact the timing of ANC (Ares of Natural Constraint) payments in mid-September,” Curran added.
On TAMS, the IFA said that the scheme seems to be “back on track” after a “rocky start”.
However, IFA environment chair, John Murphy said the the approvals of application related to nutrient storage and management should be expediated due to the focus on improving water quality.
“The whole TAMS process surrounding nutrient storage applications needs to be expedited: applications exempt from any rank and selection; and reference costs and ceilings updated to better account for inflationary pressures.
“We got assurances that this can be done, and that reference costs would be reviewed next year,” Murphy said.
However, he criticised the department for its approach to grant aiding low-emission slurry spreading (LESS) equipmemt.
“Many lower stocked and smaller-scale farmers will need to use LESS from January 1, yet the department is grant-aiding the trailing shoe only, discounting the dribble bar. If it costs less, suits more farmers, and is safer for many, while delivering emission reductions, then it should qualify. It’s only logical, and we will continue to lobby on,” Murphy said.