The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is following up with farm advisors on any technical issues arising on scorecards yet to be submitted under the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue said today (Tuesday, October 24) that cases that clear all payment validations will be included in the first payment run.
Cases not meeting all the validation requirements, including scorecard checks, will be reviewed on a weekly basis and paid once outstanding issues are resolved.
The submission rate of completed scorecards received by the department is now above 98% of applications.
ACRES Scorecards
Results-based payments and the use of scorecards is a fundamental element of ACRES in order to make payments to farmers. In total, over 170,000 scorecards were issued across 10 scorecard types.
Over 25% of all agricultural production land in the country is now scored under ACRES, Minister McConalogue said.
“Farmers in Ireland are now being recompensed for the high quality of their habitats. This is a reflection of the investment and commitment by farmers to enhancing environmental conditions and ecosystem services for all,” he said.
According to the minister, ACRES will deliver over 500,000 trees, over 2,000km of hedgerows, and the data from the scorecards will provide a baseline for the status of the ecological condition of Irish farmland.
“These scorecards are a valuable resource and key to informing our farmers on how to maintain and improve the quality of the habitats in our farmed landscape,” he said.
“The success of ACRES and the delivery of enhanced ecosystems services is reflective of a collective and collaborative approach by all stakeholders, including farmers, advisors, CP (co-operation project) teams, [and] my department.”
The minister acknowledged the effort that approved ACRES advisors had put into scoring lands over the past number of months, as well as the work carried out by the ACRES CP teams in late spring, assigning scorecards to habitats in the CP zones.
ACRES NPIs
Earlier this month, Minister McConalogue published the list of proposed non-productive investments (NPIs) under ACRES.
Participants in the ACRES co-operation approach have the opportunity to apply for tailored NPIs and landscape actions (LAs), and will be able to apply for these investments annually.
There are three categories of proposed NPIs:
- Section 1 NPI Habitat and Wildlife Support;
- Section 2 NPI Infrastructure;
- Section 3 NPI Scrub/Track (Burren/Aran CP Zone only).
Announcing the NPIs, the minister said: “The inclusion of a specific approach in identified high environmental priority areas across the country, namely the ACRES co-operation approach, was a major development in the design of ACRES.
“While participants in those areas can earn up to €7,000 each year based on an assessment of the environmental quality of their lands, there is also an opportunity to enhance their lands through access to further funding for NPIs.
“Such investment may in turn result in higher scores being achieved for farmers’ lands, which should consequently increase their annual results-based payment,” Minister McConalogue added.