A large number of farmers will be unable to access support under the new Agri-Environment Climate Measure (AECM) due to the limit on its budget and participants, according to one farm organisation.

The scheme will have a budget of €1.5 billion during the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), equating to €300 million a year over the lifetime of the next CAP from 2023 to 2027. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine envisages that there will be roughly 50,000 farmers taking part in the scheme.

The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) is calling on Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to guarantee access to all farmers who are willing to take on environmental measures under the new scheme.

Vincent Roddy, the association’s president, warned that the proposed budget will not accommodate all farmers who may wish to take part.

“With an annual allocation of €300 million supporting 50,000 participants, it will see a large number of farmers unable to access support under this scheme as they seek to deliver improved environmental outcomes on their farms,” Roddy highlighted.

He added: “With climate change and biodiversity loss a major priority for this government…it is vital that those farmers who are willing to engage are supported appropriately. This is why we are calling on the minister to go back to cabinet to secure an improved budget.”

On the details of the scheme, the INHFA president said he is “adamant” that both aspects of the scheme should ensure that farming activity “is central to any final plan”.

According to Ireland’s draft CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) that has been submitted to the EU for approval, the AECM will come in two forms: a ‘general’ form, open to 30,00 farmers in most parts of the country with an envisaged average payment of €5,000 and a maximum payment of €7,000; and a ‘co-operation’ form, open to 20,000 farmers in eight specific zones of high environmental importance (mainly in the west of the country) with a planned average payment of €7,000 and a maximum payment of €10,000.

“Ultimately farmers want to farm and the key to success here will be accommodating this, in addition to the environmental ambition,” Roddy argued.

The department published a map last week outlining which areas would be eligible for the co-operation aspect of the scheme. The INHFA says that, on foot of that, it has been “inundated” with calls from farmers enquiring if their land is covered by these areas.

Roddy called on the department to provide clarity to all farmers as to which AECM stream they may qualify for, noting: “For some farmers it is very clear whether they are in it or not, but there are many on the border of these areas where that detail is not apparent.”

Roddy argued that the best way to deliver for many of these areas under the co-operation stream is through sustainable grazing, but that shouldn’t just be confined to the co-operation aspect or the AECM scheme itself.

He also noted that many of the co-operation zones are in Natura-designated areas that “come with major restrictions that limits farmer income and have done so for the last twenty years”.

“When developing plans for these areas these restrictions are something that will need to be addressed,” the INHFA president argued.