The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers (INHFA) has reported an increase in calls from farmers who are “frustrated and angry” with the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
The calls follow the issuing of letters by the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) seeking the recovery of overpayments made to farmers.
As previously reported by Agriland, the department confirmed that 5,787 ACRES farmers have been overpaid to date by a total of €10.06 million due to interim payments issued in February.
“While some farmers had expected these letters following the issuing of their payment status on the Agfood portal, there are many others where the letter has come as a surprise,” Vincent Roddy, INHFA president, said.
“However, the letters are only part of the problem, because for many farmers these letters and the sum of money detailed for recovery come without a reference point which is a major issue,” he added.
ACRES
Roddy said that in cases where money is being recovered there is “an onus on the person or institution to provide detailed clarity with regard to how this overpayment has occurred”.
“In this instance the habitat scorecard is the basis to assess if there is, and at what level an overpayment has been made.
“However, for these farmers and indeed all commonage farmers this critical piece of information has not been given.
“It is utterly shocking that commonage farmers have still not received the habitat scores for their lands, despite these scores being with the DAFM since last October.
“What is even more incredible is that we are now seeing many of these commonages being re-scored despite the fact that farmers don’t even know what their first score was,” he said.
The INHFA president called on the department to immediately issue the scores to all commonage farmers “which will give them the critical information that informs their ACRES payments”.
“Once farmers have these scores they will be in a position to decide if they want to challenge the recovery of all or some of the over-payments the DAFM have outlined in their recent letters, because there is a strong opinion amongst some farmers that the overpayment detailed by the DAFM is excessive, with many believing that they are still owed money.”
Roddy said that the department must “get a handle on this” as some farmers are “already looking to leave ACRES”.