Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) rural development chair Michael Biggins has stated that the deadline extension for advisers to submit Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) scorecards must not delay the payment of scheme monies to farmers later in the year.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue announced last week that the scorecards for results-based ACRES measures deadline was extended by four weeks to Friday 29 September.

“An extension to the original deadline of August 31 was needed,” Biggins said.

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Baseline

The scores awarded in year one of the scheme set the baseline for farmers to improve upon for the coming years. Rushed jobs would only have led to shortcomings for farmers down the line, according to Biggins.

“While it is positive that planners have been facilitated, it is important that this extension does not result in yet another delay to the proposed scheme payment dates for 2023,” he said.

It has already been announced that a range of payments, such as the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS), will be paid out later than the equivalent Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in the old CAP which finished last year.

“These delays are likely to cause farmers short-term cashflow issues; any more delays cannot be tolerated,” Biggins commented.

"Environment scheme payments make up a significant portion of family farm income each year. With farmers having already paid for ACRES plans to be completed, as well as additional charges for scoring, it is vital that these monies are received by farmers as soon as possible.”