Advisors working in Teagasc will net more than €4.9 million in fees for the agency for submitting Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) applications to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Agriland has learned.
A total of 303 advisors working in Teagasc provided additional ACRES services to farming clients who had already paid for support packages with the agency.
ACRES is the new agri-environment climate scheme under Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan which will come into effect from Sunday, January 1.
It aims to provide “income support for up to 50,000 farm families in Ireland” under two separate approaches.
These include ACRES General which is available nationally, and ACRES Co-operation which is open to farmers “in defined high priority geographical areas, and involves results-based payments as well as bespoke farm and landscape actions”.
Applications for the €1.5 billion agri-environment climate scheme could only be submitted on behalf of farmers, by an approved agricultural advisor to the DAFM.
Teagasc ACRES services
According to the Teagasc advisory charges summary 2022, there were two specific services available to its existing farming clients in relation to the new agri-environment climate scheme which either included a “visit and mapping service” or “no visit or mapping required”.
Fees for these services were based on farm size and on which core contract a client had signed up to with Teagasc – either the Teagasc club support package (A) or the Teagasc technology support package (B).
The table below refers to ACRES – services available to Teagasc clients who have a current contract for either A or B above.
Farm size <10ha 10-35ha >35ha Visit and mapping required (General or CP) €320 (1836) €450 (1837) €550 (1838) No visit or mapping required (General or CP) €160 (1839) €225 (1840) €275 (1841)
Specifically in relation to ACRES, Teagasc has confirmed to Agriland that the “income invoiced from the scheme amounts to €4,904,626 net”.
According to DAFM 46,000 ACRES applications were submitted by the deadline of December 7, 2022.
But funding was only allocated in the government’s Budget 2023 for 30,000 places in Tranche 1 of the new agri-environment climate scheme.
Additional funding sought
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue previously told the Dáil that he wants to facilitate all successful applications to participate in the new agri-environmental scheme.
But in order to do that, the minister has to secure additional funding for ACRES and also ensure that his department has the capacity to handle the extra demand on its resources.
Previously, a number of farming organisations and TDs had warned that some farmers could potentially lose out on an environmental support payment if they were not admitted to ACRES next year.
It had been flagged to the minister that some farmers could have a gap in payments once the Green Low-Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) ends and ACRES begins.
It is understood that Minister McConalogue is currently working with officials within his department to explore what options are available to ensure that all successful applicants would receive a payment in 2023.