Officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have given a “commitment” to meet with farm organisations on the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), according to one of the farm groups.
The various issues farm organisations have with ACRES came up a meeting yesterday (Tuesday, July 2) on the Farmers’ Charter.
While the meeting saw agreement on the charter, there was no agreement on how to address the various issues on ACRES, which include the potential clawback of overpayments in that scheme through the upcoming Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) Scheme.
Other issues raised by farm groups relate to balancing payments and non-productive investments (NPIs).
Following the Farmers’ Charter meeting yesterday, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) said: “Commonage farmers in [the ACRES Co-operation Project stream] are still awaiting confirmation on their habitat scores, while many farmers are also seeking the go-ahead to carry out actions for last autumn under the NPIs.
“Both of these issues are a major cause of frustration with farmers, and need to be addressed so farmers can get on with their plans,” INHFA president Vincent Roddy commented.
On balancing payments, Roddy said: “While these payments are finally being issued it is vital that all farmers are paid in the coming weeks.
The INHFA president went on to raise concerns that farmers who were overpaid last spring when the interim payment was made may have the balance recovered through upcoming schemes, most notably the ANC.
“We cannot accept a situation where farmers could see some, or all of their ANC payment wiped because the department has been unable to deliver the accurate ACRES payments to farmers within the expected timeframes,” Roddy said.
“As the ANC payment is the first major payment for many farmers each autumn it is critical in terms of cash-flow, and eagerly anticipated. This is why we must ensure that farmers are not left in a vulnerable financial position that could lead to higher stress levels,” he added.
According to Roddy, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue, who attended yesterday’s meeting, proposed to “accommodate” farmers that are reliant on ANC and Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) payments on an individual level.
The INHFA said that this is a “step in the right direction”.
However, Roddy said that the details on how this would work needed to be seen.
“[This] is why the upcoming meeting on ACRES with department personnel is now critical and one we anticipate will happen in the coming week,” he said.
Roddy said there was a “high level” of frustration among farmers around ACRES, and he called for the “critical issues” around payments, habitat scorecards, and actions – including both the NPIs and the landscape actions for commonage farmers – to be addressed.