The online portal that will be used to complete the farm sustainability plans needed for entry into the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) is now open to farm advisers.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said that the plans will generate farm-level data needed for preparing farmers' applications.

Further details on the terms and conditions of ACRES will be published by the Department of Agriculture over the coming weeks.

Project teams

Minister McConalogue stated that co-operation project teams are working on local action plans, which will be shared with farmers in the co-operative zones as soon as possible.

“My Department is working towards providing draft terms and conditions of the scheme shortly,” the Minister said.

“This draft will give information on the scheme rules, including eligibility requirements, the application process, payment claims and further details on the tier structure and ranking and selection.

“Although certain aspects of the proposed scheme still have to be finalised, I believe that the provision of all of this information, albeit draft, will enable and support farmers and advisers to commence their work on creating farm sustainability plans and applications for the ACRES scheme,” he added.