The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed that just over 4,800 farmers have applied for Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) Non-Productive Investments (NPIs).
NPIs are small-scale environmental actions available to farmers in the ACRES Co-operation (CP) stream which support nature-friendly management of farms.
NPIs are applied for on behalf of farmers by their ACRES advisor as part of a NPI – Annual Works Plan (AWP).
According to the department, completing approved NPIs allows a farmer to add to their ACRES payment by up to a maximum of €17,500 over the five-year period of their contract.
ACRES
The department confirmed to Agriland that by the extended deadline of November 4, 4,808 ACRES CP farmers applied for NPIs.
Of that total, 4,170 farmers applied in tranche 1 of ACRES and 638 applied in tranche 2.
Galway was the county with the highest number of plan submissions at 739, across both tranches, followed by Kerry; Mayo; Donegal and Leitrim
The following table provides a breakdown county-by-county of the total number of submitted AWPs and actions to be undertaken by farmers:
County Submitted plans (both tranches) Submitted actions (both tranches) Carlow 45 409 Cavan 117 1,189 Clare 457 5,145 Cork 357 3,945 Donegal 490 4,305 Dublin 26 184 Galway 739 8,337 Kerry 639 6,574 Kildare 2 4 Kilkenny 1 10 Laois 68 593 Leitrim 471 4,949 Limerick 259 3,171 Longford 2 18 Louth 32 226 Mayo 492 4,376 Meath 3 34 Monaghan 60 578 Offaly 17 99 Roscommon 77 936 Sligo 204 1,782 Tipperary 118 1,237 Waterford 50 447 Westmeath 1 10 Wexford 26 192 Wicklow 55 420 Total 4,808 49,203
There are over 40 NPIs available for farmers to choose from covering three main areas:
- Habitat and wildlife supports;
- Farm infrastructure;
- Scrub/track removal (applicable to farmers in Burren/Aran CP Zone only).
Similar to last year, the most popular NPI in 2024 was the installation of gates.
This was followed by barn owl and kestrel net boxes; sheep wire fencing; permanent electric fencing; planting trees; water troughs; bat boxes; repairing traditional stone walls; barbed wire fencing and rodenticide free rodent control.
“Based on the date of the approval letter – the participants have until the end of the following year to submit a claim for the plan. Detailed timelines are included in the specifications for individual actions,” a DAFM spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, farmers are still awaiting approval for NPIs applied for in late 2023 under ACRES.
The department said in September that the payment system for NPIs under ACRES will not be operational until next year, and that it “regrets the delays in issuing approvals to the almost 4,300 ACRES participants who submitted NPI applications at the end of 2023”.
DAFM is aiming to issue decision letters to farmers on their 2023 NPI applications by the end of this year, and to issue letters on 2024 NPI applications in April or May of 2025, with the NPI claims and payments system to open after that.