The end of June target set by Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon for completing the 2024 advance Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) payments run is hanging in balance this week.

Information supplied to this publication by the Department of Agriculture confirms that close to 10% of ACRES applicants are still to receive their advance payment for 2024.

The latest breakdown of payments as of 27 May, shows 5,315 farmers are still to get advance payments for 2024. This figure includes 3,401 farmers in ACRES general, and a further 1,914 in the co-operation stream.

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Meanwhile, 1,112 farmers have yet to be paid their balancing monies for 2023.

Minister Heydon committed to having the vast majority of the outstanding 2023 and 2024 advance payments made by the end of May 2025, with the most complex cases to be finalised in June 2025 at the latest.

However, the most recent data from the Department shows that 3% of farmers in the co-operation stream and 2% of farmers in ACRES general have yet to be paid their balancing monies for 2023.

In terms of advance payments for last year, 11% of ACRES general applicants have not been paid, while 10% of ACRES co-operation applicants have yet to receive payment.

County breakdown

The counties with the largest numbers of farmers awaiting advance payments in ACRES general for last year are Wexford (608), Galway (243) and Tipperary (203).

Galway (420), Mayo (321) and Kerry (315) have the highest number of farmers in the co-operation stream awaiting advance payments for last year.

Regarding balancing payments for 2024, these have yet to be made to 18% of farmers in ACRES general. However, that figure climbs to 23% for co-operation farmers.

In total, 45,099 farmers have received their ACRES balancing payment for 2024, but a further 8,983 applicants have yet to be paid.

Highest numbers

The counties with the largest numbers of farmers awaiting 2024 balancing payments in ACRES general are Wexford (644), Cork (607), Galway (427) and Mayo (353).

Galway (791), Mayo (640) and Kerry (526) are the counties with the highest number of farmers in the co-operation stream awaiting balancing payments for last year.

In response to the Irish Farmers Journal’s queries, the Department said that almost €492m has been paid to farmers in ACRES to date.

It stated that almost 98% of participants in ACRES in 2023 have been fully paid, with more than 90% of those participating in the scheme in 2024 receiving an advance payment.

“Balancing payments commenced, on schedule, on 15 May to those already in receipt of an advance payment, and more than 45,000 farmers have now been fully paid,” the Department said.