The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed that 46,230 farmers across the country applied for the new Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
On Wednesday (March 1), the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, confirmed that all valid applications would be given a place in Tranche 1 of the €1.5 billion agri-environmental scheme.
Funding for just 30,000 places had made available as part of Budget 2023 for the first round of applications.
The department is currently issuing formal approval letters to applicants.
“The message for now is that farmers should wait until they receive their letters before contacting either the department or their advisor,” the minister said.
ACRES
Data from the department of agriculture shows that the county with the highest number of ACRES applications was Mayo with 5,773.
This was followed by Galway on 5,554 applications and Donegal with 4,941.
At 72, Dublin is the county with the lowest number of applications.
Click on the map below to see how many ACRES applications were made in your county:
The new results-based agri-environmental scheme is divided into two streams.
The ACRES general approach is available to farmers nationally and has a maximum annual payment of up to €7,311.
Farmers located in defined ‘high priority’ areas will be able to apply for the ACRES cooperation approach where they could receive up to €10,500 in a given year.
According to the department, 18,618 farmers applied for the co-op approach, while 27,612 sought a place in the general approach.
Galway was the county with the highest number of general applications with 3,031 and Mayo had the highest amount of co-op applications at 2,837.
The following table provides a complete county-by-county breakdown of the number of ACRES applications submitted by stream and county:
County ACRES co-operation ACRES general Total applications Carlow 126 361 487 Cavan 364 1,344 1,708 Clare 1,486 1,522 3,008 Cork 1,432 2,311 3,743 Donegal 2,903 2,038 4,941 Dublin 33 39 72 Galway 2,523 3,031 5,554 Kerry 2,577 961 3,538 Kildare 20 261 281 Kilkenny 1 634 635 Laois 111 339 450 Leitrim 1,440 685 2,125 Limerick 573 810 1,383 Longford 9 1,252 1,261 Louth 100 156 256 Mayo 2,837 2,936 5,773 Meath 4 469 473 Monaghan 129 590 719 Offaly 50 669 719 Roscommon 276 2,352 2,628 Sligo 819 935 1,754 Tipperary 396 1,253 1,649 Waterford 147 363 510 Westmeath 6 928 934 Wexford 59 984 1,043 Wicklow 197 389 586 Total 18,618 27,612 46,230
Due to the higher-than-anticipated number of participants, access to the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) for ACRES applicants will be made available on a gradual basis over the next few weeks as their approval letters are issued.
The department said that this process is expected to be completed by the end of March.