The Department of Agriculture has confirmed to the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) that the second tranche of the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) will open for farmer applicants in mid-October.

The IFA said that there will also be no changes to the terms and conditions of the scheme.

IFA rural development chair Michael Biggins said getting the scheme reopened for farmers as soon as possible was a “key priority” for the IFA and was something which he said the association continually pushed for.

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“It’s vital that Government devotes adequate resources so anybody looking to get into tranche two is accommodated. We need to learn from the lessons of the past. There is considerable demand among farmers to get into tranche two,” he said.

Committed

Biggins said that farmers are fully committed to improving the environmental and economic sustainability of their farming enterprises.

There needs to be adequate resources for Tranche II of ACRES, said the IFA.

“Ninety-seven percent of BISS applicants have committed to eco schemes and the National Liming Scheme and tranche one of ACRES were hugely oversubscribed.

“Government needs to tap into this momentum, remove the red tape and bureaucracy and devote necessary funding to deliver for the farm, the economy and the environment,” he said.