The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has been called on to “devote whatever resources are necessary” to address the ongoing payment problems under the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), despite the start of advance payments for year two of the scheme.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has called for the payments issues in the scheme to be addressed “once and for all”, with the association’s rural development chairperson, John Curran, saying: “We thought the stumbling blocks of 2023 were overcome and sorted out…but it appears to have been a false dawn for many.”
He said that the advance payments for year two, which started to issue last week, were a positive.
However, Curran said several issues remain.
“We are hearing from various quarters in recent days, including from ACRES CP (Co-operation Project) Teams, that many farmers awaiting balancing payments, including those involving the rare breeds action, won’t have their cases processed or paid until early 2025 at the earliest,” Curran said.
He added: “Close on 200 farmers have received no payment at all, nearly thee years into a five year scheme, and at a time of elevated costs of production and farm margins on the floor.”
He accused the department of kicking the can down the road on the issue.
“No other sector of society would put up with it. And farmers won’t either.
“The fundamental issue with ACRES is that it is overly complex and difficult to administer, with the financial return to farmers limited at best… There is no point carrying on regardless and hoping it will sort itself out, all the time leaving farmers in the lurch, unsure where they stand, with no or delayed payments received,” Curran commented.
He added: “Farmers deserve better. They signed up to ACRES in good faith. They have incurred costs and undertaken investment, and want to do more but for delayed non-productive investment approvals, so the department need to honour its side of the contract and ensure payments are issued on time.
The IFA rural development chair criticised the quality of transparency and direct engagement with the farmers impacted by these payment issues.
“Too many farmers are operating in an information vacuum, unable to get clarity from anyone on what exactly is happening, and going off hearsay as to why there’s a hold up or when they can expect their payments to land.”
He said that the impending ACRES review cannot be carried out with a view to changing the next agri-environmental scheme in the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2027.
“ACRES changes are needed in 2025, not 2028,” Curran said.