Balancing payments of €33.2 million have been issued to 42,444 farmers for their participation in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) in 2024 bringing the total amount paid to farmers in respect of ACRES to €490 million since the scheme commenced in January 2023.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Mr Martin Heydon said at the announcement: “While attention will naturally be focussed on the receipt of payments, I consider that we should acknowledge the contribution of farmers, through their participation in ACRES, towards a range of environmental, biodiversity, climate and water quality objectives. The achievements to date include the planting of 566,000 trees, 26,000 hectares under catch crops and the protection of almost 9,000 kilometres of watercourses under the Riparian Zone action. As regards biodiversity, 7,000 hectares of land are providing a food source for birds throughout the autumn and winter, while 21,000 boxes have been built for barn owls and kestrels. In addition, the area covered by results-based actions has increased from 80,000 hectares to more than 1.1 million hectares, and the number of farmers implementing such actions has increased tenfold. The €490 million paid out under ACRES to date is to compensate and reward participants for undertaking all of the actions within ACRES, which in turn contributes to achieving the stated objectives of the Scheme.”
It has also been announced that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine will continue to use the Area Monitoring System (AMS) to ensure that area-based schemes have met their eligibility requirements for 2025. AMS is the regular and systematic observation, tracking and assessment of agricultural activities and practices on agricultural areas using Copernicus Sentinel Satellite data.
Last year, AMS monitored the two ACRES actions, Extensively Grazed Pasture and Winter Bird Food, as part of the 2024 ACRES checks.
A further five ACRES actions will be monitored by AMS in 2025:
- Brassica Fodder Stubble: AMS will check for establishment of catch crop.
- Catch Crops: AMS will check for establishment of catch crop.
- Environmental Management of Arable Fallow: AMS will check for establishment of catch crop.
- Extensively Grazed Pasture: AMS will check for mowing events during the restricted period, i.e. 15 March to 1 July.
- Riparian Buffer Zone – Arable: AMS will check for the presence of a grass crop and mowing events during the restricted period, i.e. 1 March to 31 August.
- Riparian Buffer Zone – Grassland: AMS will check for the presence of a grass crop and mowing events during the restricted period, i.e. 1 March to 31 August.
- Winter Bird Food: AMS will check for establishment of Winter Bird Food Crop.
Learn more about ACRES by clicking here.
