The budget for ACRES has increased by €40m for 2024, bringing its total allocation for next year to €200m.
The €40m budget increase will see total places in the scheme remain around the initial target of 50,000 farmers, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has confirmed.
This leaves 4,000 spots available for farmers seeking to join the scheme this year. The minister had originally planned to accept 30,000 farmers to the scheme in 2022 and 20,000 in 2023, but with applications surging to 46,000 last year, a move was made to accept and front-load scheme participants.
“The level of interest in ACRES demonstrated that farmers are clearly making a positive contribution in addressing a range of climate, biodiversity and environmental issues,” Minister McConalogue said. He confirmed that the scheme will reopen for applications in the coming weeks.
