Minister updates Ag committee on Forgotten Farmers and ACRES

More funding may be needed to compensate the "forgotten farmers", Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon has confirmed.

€5 million was committed in Budget 2025 for payments to the forgotten farmer cohort this year.

This group of farmers are typically those who were under the age of 40 in 2015, had commenced in agriculture prior to 2008, held no or low value payment entitlements, and were not eligible for young farmer supports under the Common Agricultural Policy from 2015 due to the date they had first set up in agriculture.

Minister Heydon's department launched an online survey, which closed at the end of May, to determine the number who meet the long-standing criteria for forgotten farmers.

This survey was an opportunity for people to put themselves forward, Minister Heydon told members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food this week.

The results are currently being reviewed.

"We don't know how many farmers come in under this - they have to put themselves forward for it and we'll examine each on a case-by-case basis to see if they qualify or not.

"Whether that €5 million will be enough to get everyone resolved this year I'm not sure yet. If it's more, I will have to try and find more money in next year's budget and do it over two years," Minister Heydon stated.

He confirmed that the €5 million allocated this year will be fully spent on this forgotten farmer scheme.

"I am determined to draw a line under this issue once and for all," the minister added.

ACRES was another key issue discussed by the minister at the committee meeting this week.

The total number of active participants in ACRES, as of June 13, is 54,030, he told committee members.

A total of almost €503.7 million has issued since ACRES payments commenced at the end of 2023.

Minister Heydon acknowledged the significant payment challenges experienced with ACRES, but said he believes that "we're now in a space where the solutions put in place are permanent solutions and we won't see anything like the challenges for this in the coming years".

"ACRES is actually a phenomenal scheme. Over half a billion euro has been paid out to Irish farmers since 2023 - but it has a very dark cloud hanging over it.

"When I came into this job on January 23, we had 14,500 farmers unpaid. That wasn't acceptable to me. With 1,700 cleared last week, we now have it down to 2,961 who are outstanding," he said.

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The minister said he expects to "make considerable progress both this week and next week" to drive those numbers down further.

"I do understand if you're one of those 2,961, even though that's much reduced from 14,500 when I came into this role, it is cold comfort if you're not the one that has been sorted. We're doing everything we can to fix it."

Speaking after this week's meeting, Sinn Féin TD and member of the Oireachtas agriculture committee, Natasha Newsome Drennan said that trust of farmers who entered into ACRES has been "badly damaged" by the constant delays in payments.

‘’The minister needs to stand by these farmers and ensure those in the ACRES scheme will received the full and timely payments they are entitled to," she added.

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