Farmers are being reminded of a key upcoming deadline under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).

The annual declaration for the Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) action under ACRES in respect of 2025 must be completed on the online portal by October 31, 2025.

It is understood there are over 1,100 participants who have not yet submitted LESS records and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has written to ACRES advisers.

The DAFM said in an ACRES circular issued earlier this month that failure to complete and submit the LESS return will result in a delay in making the 2025 ACRES advance payment, and may result in the rejection of the LESS action from their ACRES contract.

"The declaration may be completed online by the ACRES adviser on behalf of their client or by the ACRES participant themselves," DAFM said.

The last spread date for slurry this year was September 30, with the closed period having commenced on October 1.

DAFM reminded farmers and their advisers that the following requirements apply to the LESS action:

Holdings must have a grassland stocking rate of less than 100kg nitrogen per hectare from grazing livestock manure prior to export of livestock manure;
All the slurry applied on the farm (produced and/or imported) must, for each year of the contract, be spread by one or a combination of: band spreading, injection systems, and trailing shoe;
Pig slurry is not eligible for payment under this action. Only slurry produced on the holding (excluding pig slurry) is eligible for payment;
Participants must retain, and provide if requested, documentary evidence to confirm the spreading method used, and the volumes spread on the holding;
The minimum volume of slurry that must be applied on the holding each year of the contract using one of the above listed methods is 50m³. DAFM noted that 1m³ is equal to 1,000L (220gal);
The participant or their approved ACRES adviser must submit a completed annual slurry declaration return to the department on the online portal;
Only parcels with an eligible hectare >0 claimed on BISS 2025 will be available on the drop-down menu;
Volume produced and volume imported must be entered in separate fields and at least one of the fields must be filled in;
Multiple spread events on the same parcel can be input.

DAFM said it is not required to enclose receipts when completing the form.

"The receipts must be kept by the participant with their record sheets and be made available for any inspection," the department said.