The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has today (Wednesday, October 19) formally opened the Agri-Climate Rural Environmental Scheme (ACRES).

Applications for the €1.5 billion scheme can only be submitted on behalf of farmers by an approved agricultural advisor before midnight on November 21.

Budget 2023 provided funding for 30,000 farmers to enter the first tranche of the scheme.

The results-based agri-environmental scheme is divided into two streams.

The ACRES general approach is available to farmers nationally and has a maximum annual payment of up to €7,311.

Farmers located in defined ‘high priority’ areas will be able to apply for the ACRES co-operation approach where they could receive up to €10,500 in a given year.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) noted that a farmer may only enter into a contract for one of the approaches.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue

At the end of September, the department confirmed that the system for advisors to create Farm Sustainability Plans (FSP) required as part of the application process was fully operational.

Commenting on the opening of ACRES for applications, Minister McConalogue said:

“This ambitious scheme delivers for both our environmental priorities and to support farm family incomes.

“As contracts are to begin on January 1, 2023, and to help prepare as much work as possible in advance, my department has trained advisors and published a significant amount of information to guide both farmers over the last few months.

“Almost 700 advisors have access to the system with over 3,200 Farm Sustainability Plans already drafted and ready for submission.”

ACRES is due to run from 2023-2027 as part of Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan and is jointly funded by the European Union and the national exchequer.

The minister encouraged all farmers and advisors to seriously consider applying for the scheme.

“I want ACRES to deliver for our farm families as well as the environment so I am looking forward to seeing this ambitious scheme roll out over the coming weeks and months,” he said.

The terms and conditions for the scheme are published on the department’s website at gov.ie/ACRES.