New Acres scheme
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ACRES needs ‘additional budget’ for all applicants – McConalogue
Francess McDonnell
Feb 21, 2023 8:00am
Key issues around “capacity, infrastructure and budget” remain on the table in relation to the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) according to the Minister for Agriculture.
The clock is ticking for Minister Charlie McConalogue and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to meet the minister’s own deadline of informing ACRES applicants of their status “before the end of February”.
The minister has told members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine that his “objective, if possible, is to be in a position to accept all 46,000 applicants to the current tranche of the scheme”.
But he also warned TDs and senators that there “are operational considerations” for his department and if all applicants cannot be accommodated in Tranche 1 then he will “assess issues relating to gap years, etc”.
During a recent committee meeting Minister McConalogue said:
“I want to be certain any next steps do not compromise the integrity of the scheme or our ability to make timely payments to applicants accepted into it.
“It is important to move as quickly as possible on this and I plan to announce next steps very soon. I intend all ACRES applicants will hear from us before the end of February.”
ACRES applicants
But the Fianna Fáil TD for Longford-Westmeath, Joe Flaherty, told the minister that he has been contacted by a large number of farmers in his area who were “marginal farmers” and who are “staring at the possibility of being excluded from ACRES”.
Deputy Flaherty said most of these farmers were dependent on an off-farm income but were also “hugely important both to the local economy but, more importantly, to the local ecology”.
” Is there any way or means to accommodate those farmers, particularly ones who are exiting existing environmental schemes in order that they will not experience a fall-off in income and supports that will most likely force them to make a draconian decision and exit the sector?” Deputy Flaherty asked.
According to Minister McConalogue to take in all 46,000 applicants to ACRES in Tranche 1 will require “budgetary adjustment”.
“I have been engaging across government, particularly with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform but also with other ministers and party leaders.
“There is a very strong appetite if we can do it. It would require additional budget as well as making sure we have the logistical capacity,” he added.
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ACRES: ‘We are looking under the hood and pushing to the limit’
Stella Meehan
Feb 24, 2023 2:37pm
Minister of the State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Martin Heydon has said that he and his colleague, agriculture minister, Charlie McConalogue are “pushing to the limit” to ensure more than 46,000 farmers are included in the new Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
The junior minister was responding to questions from farmers at a conference on the future of agriculture which was hosted by Fine Gael in Tuam, Co. Galway last night (Thursday, February 23).
Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) Rural Development chair, Michael Biggins spoke from the audience and said: “We have a scheme… I’m talking about ACRES… 46,600 people don’t fit into 30,000 places and we have a serious problem with it.
“There are 16 and a half thousand farmers out there that need to get into a scheme. I think it’s vital that you [Minister Heydon] ensure that those families are looked after.
“They are people who cannot afford a gap scheme,” he added.
‘Pushing to the limit’ in ACRES
In response, Minister Heydon asked farmers not to underestimate the challenge it has been to provide extra spaces in a brand new scheme.
Minister Martin Heydon speaking at the Fine Gael conference on agriculture in Tuam, Co. Galway
Minister Heydon said: “I’m delighted that 46,000 farmers applied for this. We were told by some people ACRES would be a disaster and that we wouldn’t get 30,000 to apply. This is a nice problem to have.
“It is a challenge for us. Normally, if you remember AEOS [Agri-Environment Options Scheme] and REPS [Rural Environmental Protection Scheme]… the change-over… there was two or three REPS, not all farmers came out at the one time and AEOS was the same.
“It is not how you would want it that all farmers end, and it’s just the nature of the two-year transition period you have in the extended CAP [Common Agricultural Policy], that we ended up that every farmer finished in the agri-environmental scheme at the end of last year,” Minister Heydon added.
The minister of state added that despite it not being ideal, the DAFM is at the “cliff edge” and that it his ambition to “get as many farmers as possible” into the scheme.
He said the government wants to implement an agri-environment scheme that delivers more for the environment and more money than Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS).
“We are looking at every possibility inside [DAFM] to make sure that we can facilitate as many of those 46,000 farmers as possible,” Heydon continued.
“The last thing we want to do is be turning farmers away. Don’t underestimate how challenging that is in a year where we have all new computer schemes set up for everything.
“We just have to try and manage that and push our officials as hard as we can, and we are. I can reassure you that we are looking under the hood here and making sure that we are pushing this thing to the limit.”
The minister concluded by telling the gathering of farmers that the department is “very close” to making an announcement on ACRES.
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