The president of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) Tim Cullinan has called for the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) application process to be simplified.
Budget 2023 provided funding for 30,000 farmers to enter the first tranche of the results-based agri-environmental scheme next year.
Applications for the €1.5 billion scheme can only be submitted on behalf of farmers by an approved agricultural advisor.
ACRES
Tim Cullinan said that more flexibility is needed around “the tranche-based design of ACRES” to ensure that thousands of farm families currently in the Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) and Results based Environmental Agri-Pilot (REAP) do not miss out on income support in 2023.
“The two-week extension to the ACRES deadline isn’t sufficient to meet farmer demand,” Cullinan said.
“A further extension and/or simplification of the application process is needed to maximise farmer uptake.”
The IFA has said that it has offered “workable solutions” to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) in relation to their concerns.
Cullinan said that the department could offer “a bridging payment” to farmers who are unsuccessful in the first tranche of ACRES which would match their previous agri-environmental scheme payment.
He said that the department could also consider giving an upfront payment in 2023 for Tranche 2 ACRES participants, similar to payment under the previous Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (REPS).
The IFA president pointed to recent data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) which showed that rising input prices in September rose by 36.9% year-on-year, while output prices increased by 29.2% in the same period.
“Cattle prices are back 1.9% on August levels, and sheep back 2.7%. These are traditionally low-income sectors and need support.
“Many simply won’t have the capacity to continue operations at existing input/output prices.
“It amplifies the need to ensure farmers in these vulnerable sectors get a 2023 agri-environment scheme payment,” Cullinan said.
Meanwhile, the IFA president described the recent European Commission communication on fertiliser as “very underwhelming”.
Cullinan said that the EU document “appears more interested in protecting the EU fertiliser industry than the farmer” and “offered nothing to alleviate current price pressures”.
He said that the strategy places a greater emphasis on member states to support farmers to purchase fertiliser through the Temporary Crisis Framework.
“EU natural gas prices, while still well above past ‘normal’ levels, have fallen significantly from their summer peak, now hovering around €105/MWh.
“This has seen the resumption and an increase in production capacity across many EU fertiliser plants which will help ensure increased supplies at lower costs into the future.
“Given the phenomenal inflationary input price endured by farmers, this reduction in production costs must be passed onto farmers immediately so they can secure supplies for the coming spring and help preserve soil fertility and crop growth.”
The IFA president added that the EU decision not to suspend anti-dumping tariffs on fertiliser imported from the US and Trinidad and Tobago puts European farmers at a competitive disadvantage.