The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has demanded that Minister for Agricultural Charlie McConalogue delivers extra places under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).

IFA rural development chair John Curran has said that farmer participation in agri-environment schemes “cannot be limited to 50,000 ACRES participants, all farmers interested in an agri-environment scheme must be accommodated”.

“Anything beyond 50,000 ACRES places would be a political decision, so the Minister has to exert his influence within Government to make it happen,” Curran said.

The rural development chair also “welcomed the update from Department officials that payment runs for remaining ACRES general applicants will kick off early next week and run fortnightly”.

Curran highlighted that “ACRES co-operation project (CP) payments are to commence end of February and balancing payments for both ACRES general and CP end of May”.

Delayed payments

IFA hill farming chair Caillin Conneely said there is a “huge degree of frustration building among hill farmers at the delay and uncertainty surrounding ACRES CP payments”.

He demanded that the Department “need[s] to do everything within [its] power to ensure the maximum number of ACRES CP payments are made, as quickly as possible".

Conneely added that “low-income families, particularly those in vulnerable sectors, rely on agri-environment programmes to survive”.

“As a hill farmer, we were sold a pup with ACRES. Any further delay would rub salt into the wound and kill off any remaining confidence farmers have in the Department and this scheme,” the IFA hill farming chair concluded.