The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, has said that he will not be giving a timeline in relation to a decision on applications for the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
According to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), 46,000 applications were received under Tranche 1 of the new €1.5 billion agri-environment scheme.
However, funding for just 30,000 places was made available as part of Budget 2023 for the first round of applications.
A further 20,000 places have been earmarked for the scheme under Tranche 2.
Speaking at the Irish Farmers’ Association’s (IFA’s) Farming and Climate Summit in Thomond Park in Limerick yesterday (Tuesday, January 10), Minister McConalogue reiterated his ambition to find places for all farmers who have applied.
“The position was that there was capacity for 30,000 [farmers] in terms of the system and the infrastructure; the assessment was that was what could be managed comfortably.
“When the scheme was launched there was a ranking and selection criteria published in terms of how farmers would be selected in the first year and in the event of it being over-subscribed.
“Obviously, there is a great appetite there, many people are applying for the first time that have never been in schemes before,” McConalogue said.
ACRES
“I want, if we can, to accommodate everyone but first and foremost I have to make sure that we can run the scheme effectively and it works for everyone who is involved.
“My team are working very hard at the moment to assess the capacity to do that and I hope to conclude that work as soon as we can. But the scheme only closed early December and there’s a lot of issues to consider,” the minister added.
“The first thing we’ll have to decide is can we accommodate the 46,000.
“I’m not going to put a timeline on it until we know, but we are working hard to try and get that assessment.
“Our objective is to accommodate all of them, if we can. But at the same time I want to ensure that we don’t have capacity issues that means it’s not a good experience for those who are involved in it,” he said.
Agriland yesterday reported that the department of agriculture has confirmed that farmers who applied to new scheme will not be notified this month if they were successful.
According to the DAFM, ACRES contracts for successful applicants start from January, 1 2023.
Minister McConalogue also said that if all farmers could not be fully accommodated in the first year of ACRES he is “looking at options as to what we can do for them”.
Concerns have been raised about a so-called “gap year” in payments for farmers as the Green Low Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) comes to an end and ACRES begins.