The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has written to advisors for the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) informing them of an important deadline.
Advisors are being reminded that the submission of all ACRES scorecards must be completed in the coming days.
The DAFM stated that it is “due to recent poor weather conditions” that scorecards can now be submitted until September 7, 2024 without penalty.
The department also added that it is “important” that advisors review all scorecards that have been uploaded on the Generic Land Management (GLAM) system and ensure that they have fully submitted each one.
Where a scorecard is at a status of ‘Draft’, advisors must review and submit.
It will not be possible to submit scorecards after the deadline of September 7, 2024.
The client scorecard reporting function was made available on GLAM in early July as notified
to advisors in a previous circular.
This functionality allows the advisor to download an excel file through their Agfood.ie account and view the status of all their ACRES applications.
By selecting ‘GLAM’ reporting within the portal, advisors can now filter the status of all their applications on the excel spreadsheet as necessary.
ACRES
An “urgent” meeting recently held of the national council of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) has resulted in a demand from the farm organisation that repayment requests under the ACRES be halted.
The meeting was convened on foot of letters received by farmers, sent by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which the INHFA said “demanded repayment of some or all” of the €5,000 interim payment made earlier this year to some participating farmers.
According to the association, the meeting saw attendees “express intense frustration and anger toward the department’s handling of the scheme”.
According to INHFA president Vincent Roddy, the attendees were “unanimously irate” over the department’s demands.
The meeting resulted in a motion calling on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, and his department, to “immediately cease all repayment requests”.