The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) has called on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Minister Charlie McConalogue to immediately suspend plans to recover alleged overpayments of Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) monies
The organisation has claimed that “the basis to assess these overpayments is flawed”.
INHFA vice-president John Joe Fitzgerald stated: “Farmers have been contacting us following the publication of their habitat scores and associated maps detailing worrying mistakes.
”These mistakes relate to the area mapped, where farmers have, following examination, found that they have been given scores for lands (LPIS parcel areas) that they don’t own, while missing LPIS parcel areas of their own.
“Currently we are trying to assess how widespread this issue is and we are encouraging all farmers, especially those that have been contacted around an overpayment claim, to cross reference their ACRES parcel number against their LPIS parcel number.”
ACRES
With the habitat scores being a critical element in farmer’s overall payment, especially in ACRES Co-Operation, Fitzgerald explained how the inclusion of incorrect land parcels and/or the exclusion of correct land parcels could have a significant bearing on a farmer’s final payment.
On this basis, he stressed that it is vital that the parcel numbers are correct and this is the reason the INHFA has called on the department to immediately suspend the recovery of any ACRES payments.
The INHFA has also taken issue with the delay by the department in ratifying the Non Productive Investments (NPIs) and Landscape Actions (LAs).
“These delays, coupled with the delay in getting the scores out to farmers, will negatively impact farmers in the coming year, especially those farmers that have had their lands assessed for the second time this summer,” Fitzgerald added.
“The department’s inability to ratify these actions (NPIs and LAs) has denied these farmers the opportunity to address possible issues such as invasive species or dumping and will see their score locked in for another two years, condemning them to their current payment rates and also negatively affecting biodiversity.
“We have written to the minister requesting a meeting and the opportunity to address an ever increasing number of ACRES-related issues including those outlined,” Fitzgerald concluded.
Balancing payments
Earlier today, it was announced that around 8,000 remaining farmers in the scheme should receive balancing payments by the end of September.
That’s according to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue who provided an update on the progress of ACRES payments already made and those for issue over the coming period.
ACRES is Ireland’s agri-environment climate scheme under Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan.
The €1.5 billion flagship scheme is aimed at being a farmer-friendly scheme to help address biodiversity decline while delivering an income support for up to 50,000 farm families in Ireland.
Earlier in the summer, DAFM confirmed that 5,787 ACRES farmers have been overpaid by a total of €10.06 million.
The department said that 1,039 ACRES General participants and 4,748 in ACRES Co-operation had been overpaid up to July due to interim payments issued in February.
The flat rate payment was made by the department to address concerns that delays in ACRES advance payments were causing cash flow difficulties on farms.
In July, the INHFA welcomed the decision to allow farmers that are deemed to have received an overpayment in ACRES the option to have these monies recovered in their next ACRES payment as opposed to the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) payment this September.