The uncertainty and delays surrounding the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) continues to create “havoc” on farms, according to the Irish Farmers Association (IFA).
The association’s national hill farming committee chair Cáillin Conneely said that “the vacuum of information” surrounding ACRES, and the thousands of farmers still awaiting balancing payments, is “simply unacceptable”.
“No other sector of society would put up with it. Farmers need their ACRES payments today, not whenever it suits the department. Cashflow is becoming more and more of an issue on farms,” he said.
ACRES
Conneely said that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) “needs to devote whatever resources are needed to quickly sort out this mess”.
“They need to engage with farmers so they know where they stand, and they must provide assurances that these ongoing delays will not have any consequences for advance 2024 tranche 1 or tranche 2 ACRES payments,” he said.
“Farmers entered the scheme in good faith; invested in planners and environmental actions; but many find themselves now not knowing where they stand.
“They don’t know if they will get paid, or even if they have to pay back money, and that’s without even mentioning the delayed approvals of Non-Productive Investment (NPI) applications which closed last December,” Conneely added.
The IFA Hill Farming Committee chair also said that the scoring on many commonages is “extremely harsh” and is compounded by 100m exclusions around turbary activity.
“Given the calamity that is ACRES thus far, maximum flexibility should apply.
“The exclusion zone should be considerably reduced, and the department needs to get their ship in order and deliver the ACRES scheme that was sold to farmers,” he said.
The IFA has called for a meeting of the Farmers’ Charter Monitoring Committee in a bid to “get greater clarity and a speedy resolution on outstanding issues”.
However, Conneely said that they are still waiting for a reply from the department in relation to their request.