Farmers are still awaiting approval for non-productive investments (NPIs) applied for in late 2023 under the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine said in September that the payment system for NPIs under ACRES will not be operational until next year, and that 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 – as well as landscape actions (LAs) – provide participants in the ACRES Co-operation (CP) stream 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.
Although farmers who applied for NPIs at the end of 2023 are awaiting decision letters from the department, the department has provided figures on what the most popular of the over 40 NPIs were in last year’s applications.
NPIs come in three categories, namely:
- Habitat and wildlife supports;
- Farm infrastructure;
- Scrub/track removal (applicable to farmers in Burren/Aran CP Zone only).
Figures provided by John Muldowney, head of the Agriculture and Environmental Structures Division in the department, show that the installation of gates was the most popular NPI for which applications were submitted, with 7,273 submissions for that action.
This was followed by barn owl/kestrel nest box, with 6,794 applications.
These two NPIs were out on their own in terms of popularity, with the next 10 NPIs ranging in popularity from around 3,700 down to around 1,100.
There was a sharper drop off again in terms of the 13th to 24th most common NPI applications, which range from around 850 applications down to 250.
Muldowney presented the figures at the Upland Symposium this week, which was co-organised by Teagasc and Northern Ireland’s College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprises (CAFRE).
The 12 most popular NPIs applied for in 2023, and the category they fall into, are presented in the table below:
NPI Category No. of applications Installation of gates Infrastructure 7,273 Barn owl/kestrel nest box Habitat and wildlife 6,794 Water troughs Infrastructure 3,696 Bat box Habitat and wildlife 3,032 Fencing (permanent electric) Infrastructure 2,837 Fencing (sheep wire) Infrastructure 2,459 Planting trees Habitat and wildlife 2,091 Repair of traditional stone wall (two sides) Habitat and wildlife 1,947 Rodenticide-free rodent control Habitat and wildlife 1,801 Fencing (barbed wire) Infrastructure 1,680 Culvert Infrastructure 1,252 Planting new hedgerows Habitat and wildlife 1,171
Muldowney confirmed that the department is aiming to issue decision letters to farmers on their 2023 NPI applications by the end of this year, and to issue letters on 2024 NPI applications in April or May of 2025, with the NPI claims and payments system to open after that.