ACRES general actions: Full list and payment rates

Key details of the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) have been released in the last week by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

These include the payment rates for the various general actions that can be taken under the scheme.

All farmers in the scheme will be able to pick from among these actions, but some farmers will be restricted in what options they can pick.

This will depend on whether they are in the ACRES Co-operation or ACRES General approach, and which priority tier of the scheme they are in.

Farmers in ACRES General who have the most environmentally important land will be in ‘Tier 1’, giving them priority access to the scheme.

Tier 1 farmers include the following:

• Applicants with at least 0.5ha of grassland within the Natura mapped area in 2021. The applicant must select one of the following actions on this land:
  • Low-input grassland;
  • Extensively grazed pasture.
• Applicants with at least 0.5ha of tillage land within the Natura mapped area in 2021. The applicant must select one of the following actions on this land:
  • Unharvested cereal headlands;
  • Winter bird food;
  • Environmental management of arable fallow.
• Applicants with at least 0.5ha of commonage land declared on the 2021 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS);
• Applicants with at least 0.5ha of land within the geese and swan mapped area in 2021;
• Applicants with at least 0.5ha of land within the breeding wader hotspot mapped area. The applicant must select one of the following actions on this land:
  • Low-input grassland;
  • Extensively grazed pasture;
  • Environmental management of arable fallow.
• Applicants with at least 0.5ha of land within the high-status water objective mapped area in 2021. Applicants must select at least one of the following actions on this land:
  • Riparian buffer zone strips or zones (grassland or arable as appropriate);
  • Management of intensive grassland next to watercourses;
  • Planting trees in riparian buffer zones;
  • Planting a new hedgerow;
  • Low-input grassland;
  • Extensively grazed pasture;
  • Environmental management of arable fallow.
• Applicants who can prove membership of a rare breed society at the time of application, and who select the conservation of rare breeds action;
• Applicants who are registered with, and approved by, one of the organic control bodies and holds a licence as an organic farmer at the time of application.

Farmers who are not eligible for Tier 1 may instead be eligible for Tier 2, which will give them the second-highest level of priority access to ACRES.

Tier 2 farmers include the following:

• Applicants with at least 0.5ha of land within the vulnerable water mapped area in 2021. At least one of the following actions must be taken on this land:
  • Riparian buffer strips or zones (grassland or arable as appropriate);
  • Management of intensive grassland next to a watercourse;
  • Planting trees in riparian buffer zones;
  • Planting a new hedgerow;
  • Low-input grassland;
  • Extensively grazed pasture;
  • Environmental management of arable fallow.
• Applicants with a whole farm stocking rate exceeding 130kg of livestock manure nitrogen (N) or more than 30ha of arable crops in 2021. At least one of he following actions must be taken:
  • Minimum tillage (min-till) on a minimum of 10ha;
  • Catch crops on a minimum of 6ha;
  • Overwinter stubble on a minimum of 4ha;
  • Grass margins on a minimum of 500m (grassland or arable as appropriate);
  • Low-input peat grassland on a minimum of 0.5ha.
• Applicants who are participants in the Native Woodland Establishment Scheme or agroforestry grant and premium category (GPC);
• Applicants who take one of the following tree-planting actions:
  • Tree planting to a minimum of 100 trees;
  • Planting trees in riparian buffer zones to a minimum of 10 trees;
  • Tree belts for ammonia capture from farmyards to a minimum of 0.18ha.

Farmers who do not fall into the above tiers are considered to be in Tier 3, reflecting no particular priority access to ACRES.

For these farmers, the full slate of actions is available to choose from.

All farmers should note the following points on general actions:

• The commonage action is results based, but a participation payment is set at €50/ha on the first 20ha irrespective of the results-based score. The results-based payment is inclusive of the participation payment;
• For the conservation of rare breeds action, breeding females that produce a registered offspring above the basic eligibility requirements will be paid an additional payment of €75 per progeny registered up to the overall maximum payment ceiling;
• For low-input grassland and low-input peat grassland actions, participants may apply for a late meadow bonus payment of €50/ha;
• Actions where units are measured in metres must have continuous lengths;
• Actions with no explicit maximum number of units can be paid up to the maximum payment ceiling.

The full list of actions, their specifications and payment rates are outlined in the table below: