BirdWatch Ireland has called on the government to urgently invest in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) IT system.
The conservation group said that it is “very concerned and disappointed” that payments to over 18,000 farmers participating in Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) Co-operative Project (CPs) will be delayed until February 2024.
“Instead of farmers receiving payments at the critical juncture before Christmas as expected, payments will now not come for another two months.
“This places this cohort of farmers under financial pressure especially where there have been cost outlays and farmers are now left covering these costs until 2024,” BirdWatch Ireland said in a statement.
The group also claims there is a risk that the delay in payments will “damage perception among the farmers” in the CP stream “at a time when we need their support for nature restoration on farmland more than ever”.
BirdWatch Ireland
BirdWatch Ireland said that has been “clear from the start” that there would be operational challenges in uploading results-based scorecards to the DAFM’s IT system.
Oonagh Duggan, head of advocacy at BirdWatch Ireland called on the government to “invest in its IT systems to ensure that it is fit for purpose”.
“Going forward it must be able to accommodate the future direction of Ireland’s agri-environment scheme payments, and the flexibility needed to successfully manage changes in schemes due to unforeseen circumstances.
“Restoration of habitats and wildlife populations on farmland will only work if farmers have trust and confidence in the systems underpinning it and see their payments delivered on time and in full. This is really important and the state must get it right,” she said.
Nature restoration
BirdWatch Ireland said it is “widely acknowledged” that there is considerable scope to improve degraded biodiversity on farmland, especially in relation to farmland birds and insects like butterflies and bees.
The group said that the move towards more tailored approaches to address environmental issues through the CP schemes is “very promising for farmland biodiversity and to address climate goals”.
“It is clear from the substantial over-subscription of both ACRES CP tranche 1 and ACRES general (by 50%) that farmers are very keen to play their part to restore nature,” it said.
BirdWatch Ireland said that the EU Nature Restoration Law, which is currently being finalised in Brussels, “will likely require greater farmer uptake of schemes like the CPs to meet targets”.
“Take up will be voluntary and farmers will need to be incentivised to get involved. Involvement will be more successful if farmers have trust and confidence in the systems that underpin these schemes and where there is policy coherence.
“We really hope that this delay will be a once off and farmers will see the benefits of involvement over time,” it said.