The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has announced that a procedure is now in place for withdrawing approved Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) Non-Productive Investments (NPIs).

In a circular, the department said that farmers participating in ACRES Co-operation (CP) could withdraw an ACRES NPI Annual Works Plan (AWP) in full or withdraw individual actions.

The department noted that the withdrawals must relate to an AWP where notification of approval has issued.

DAFM said that withdrawal requests may be submitted by the participant or by an ACRES advisor on their behalf by completing and returning the relevant form.

All requests for withdrawals of either an approved NPI-AWP or individual Action Feature IDs must be in writing by email or post.

"Individual action feature ID(s) on a NPI AWP may only be withdrawn in full. Amendments to individual Action Feature ID quantities will not be allowed," the department noted.

DAFM said that the procedure has been put in place to address situations where actions submitted in the NPI application in 2024 that have been drawn in the same place as an approved NPI action may be rejected.

It noted that approved NPI actions which the participant does not intend to complete do not need to be withdrawn.

This is because they will be considered withdrawn when a payment claim, which does not include them, is submitted to the department.

However, the following NPIs, where approved, must be delivered unless withdrawn by the deadline in the NPI specifications:

Bracken strimming;
Bracken mechanical;
Wild bird cover plot;
Wild bird cover strip;
Winter stubble.

As previously reported by Agriland, farmers who are unhappy with the score assigned to their commonage under ACRES can now seek a review.

The department said that a three-step process has been put in place for participants seeking a review of commonage scores.

Initially, the farmer must submit a request to the relevant ACRES CP team or commonage scoring contractor that assessed and scored the commonage in question for an internal review to be undertaken.

This request must be made within three months of receiving the commonage scorecard summary.

If the farmer is not satisfied with the review explanation provided and has exhausted the internal referral process, they may then submit a request for review to the department within 21 days of the review.

In the event that the farmer is not satisfied with the DAFM internal review, they have a statutory right to appeal the decision to the Agriculture Appeals Office (AAO), which operates independently of the department.

The scoring of commonages is undertake by a third party on behalf of the department.

ACRES CP teams conduct the scoring where the commonage falls within the respective ACRES CP zones.

In the case of non-CP commonage, the department employs contractors to undertake the scoring.