The Department of Agriculture has confirmed that the closing date for the submission of applications under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) is being extended until 11.59pm on 7 December 2022.

The likelihood of an extension was reported in last week’s Irish Farmers Journal, but an earlier closing date of 5 December was mooted.

The Department says the extension from the initial deadline of 21 November 2022 was undertaken “to facilitate the workload of advisers and to ensure receipt of the best-quality applications possible”.

Farmers interested in joining ACRES must avail of the services of an approved agricultural adviser to submit their plan. There are three steps in this process as outlined below.

Application steps

1) Submit an expression of interest/access agreement

The ACRES access agreement is an online facility enabling an adviser to accept the scheme terms and conditions on behalf of their clients.

This is the first step of the process and to be eligible to submit an application, an adviser must be approved as an agent for ACRES.

2) Prepare and submit a farm sustainability plan (FSP) on the Department’s GLAM system

Explaining the FSP process, the Department says “to complete the FSP, the adviser must complete a series of desk checks, walk all the fields of your farm to identify and address the environmental priorities/risks on your farm and check fields for suitability for the various actions".

"Your adviser must discuss possible actions arising from the FSP process with you and you must then decide which actions are to form part of your ACRES application. The FSP has to accompany the application form.”

3) Complete and submit the ACRES application

This must include relevant documentation, such as valid soil samples, where available, or proof of membership of a breed society if selecting the conservation of rare breeds action, etc.