Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has announced that applications may now be submitted on behalf of participants in the Co-operation approach of the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) for Non-Productive Investments (NPIs).
Making the announcement, the Minister said: “With this second NPI application window opening today, I encourage farmers in the ACRES Co-operation approach to avail of the funding available to them through NPIs.
“These investments are an integral element of ACRES that support farmers to take specific measures to enhance environmental outcomes on their holdings and thereby increase their payments under the scheme,” the minister added.
The deadline for the submission of NPI applications this year will be 4:30p.m on Thursday, October 31. As with the first Tranche of NPI applications in 2023, this will be followed by the necessary screening of the applications by the ACRES Co-operation Project (CP) teams.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) said that regarding the NPI application window last November and December, all applications have been through the screening process, with some additional validations now required.
The system to support the submission of claims and the processing of payments in respect of these approved investments will follow “as early as possible” in 2025.
Minister McConalogue said: “My department is expediting decision letters for farmers that applied in the first window, and these are scheduled to issue by the end of the year.”
Applications, in the form of NPI Annual Work plans, are prepared and submitted by ACRES advisors on behalf of their clients who are ACRES Co-operation participants.
The department had previously said that the payment system for NPIs under ACRES will not be operational until next year.
The department has said it “regrets the delays in issuing approvals to the almost 4,300 ACRES participants who submitted NPI applications at the end of 2023″.
According to the department, NPIs and landscape actions provide ACRES CP participants with an opportunity to improve environmental outcomes on their farms and the scores achieved under the results-based system, and in turn increase their payments.
In addition to their maximum core annual payment of €7,000, CP participants have the opportunity to draw down additional payments of up to €17,500 through carrying out certain actions.