ACRES: How will the results-based scorecards work?

Actions and payment rates for the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) emerged over the last week, revealing what farmers can do, and what they can expect to be paid.

One notable feature of ACRES – as opposed to the Green, Low-Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS), which it will replace from January – is the use of scorecards to grade the results-based actions in the scheme.

Results-based actions will feature in both approaches of the scheme – ACRES Co-operation and ACRES General.

These scorecards were trialled last year in the Rural Environment Agri Pilot (REAP) programme, which served as a precursor to ACRES.

The ACRES Co-operation approach is the higher paying of the two approaches, with a maximum payment of €10,500 compared to €7,000 in ACRES General.

However, it is important to note that the difference of €3,500 in ACRES Co-operation is ringfenced for non-productive investments (NPIs) and landscape actions (LAs).

A list of relevant NPIs and LAs will be made available in each year of the contract. These actions are undertaken as part of the co-operation projects (CPs) within the eight CP zones.

So, farmers in the CP zones will also be in line for a maximum payment of €7,000 under the general actions of the scheme, even though they are not technically in the ACRES General approach.

However, the general actions they can take will be limited compared to farmers in ACRES General (unless some of their land is outside the CP zone, in which case the full list of actions is available for that land).

Within the CP zone, the only general actions that can be chosen are conservation of rare breeds; low-emission slurry spreading (LESS); and traditional dry stone wall maintenance.

In either case, the amount of funding available for these general actions for co-operation-approach farmers will be limited by excluding commonage, permanent pasture (PP), low-input permanent pasture (LIPP) and traditional hay meadows (THM); and then paying for those land types separately based on scorecards.

The maximum payment for general actions will be reduced by the hectarage of commonage times €145 and the hectarage of PP, LIPP and/or THM times €300.

So for example, a farmer has 43ha of land declared as part of their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) application: 5ha of commonage; 8ha of PP, LIPP or THM inside the CP zone, and 30ha of land outside the CP zone. In this case, the maximum payment of €7,000 is reduced by €145 for each of the 5ha of commonage (€725); and by €300 for each of the 8ha of pasture/meadow inside the CP zone (€2,400).

So, out of the €7,000 maximum for general actions available to CP zone farmers, this farmer will see €3,125 of that ringfenced for commonage or pasture, and the remainder (€3,875) available for general actions outside the CP zone.

If the amount ringfenced for commonage or pasture exceeds €7,000, the farmer will not be able to receive payment for general actions.

ACRES scorecards

So with all that in mind, let’s look at the scorecards that will be used for grading results-based actions.

There are four types of scorecards. Two of these will be used in ACRES General only, for the low input grassland and low-input peat grassland actions (these two scorecards are identical). Participants who are taking this action can also apply for a €50/ha late meadow bonus.

One scorecard will be used in ACRES Co-operation only, to measure ecological integrity of grassland, peatland and scrubland (however, the CP teams who will manage farmer actions in the CP zones may develop other scorecards as required).

It should also be noted that this scorecard features a reduced rate for farmers already receiving funding under the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).

The final scorecard can apply to farmers in both approaches to the stream who have declared commonage land.

The aim of this scorecard is to grade habitats on commonage land in terms of maintenance, restoration and management practices.

These practices may include targeted grazing, removal of invasive species, restoration of peatland hydrology and temporary fencing; or specific actions such as riparian (river bank) buffers.

However, the payment rates below include a €50/ha participation payment on the first 20ha regardless of the results-based score.

Declared commonage amounting to less than 10ha is paid at a flat rate of €120/ha.

Note that all the scorecards have something in common: No payment will be made on scores below four (or below eight on the grassland, peatland and scrubland scorecard for farmers in the OFS).