Farmers participating in the Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) action in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) are being encouraged to submit the annual declaration as soon as possible, and before the deadline of 31 October.
ACRES participants or their approved ACRES adviser can complete the declaration via MyAgfood.ie or AgFood.ie (which remains active for a limited timeframe to facilitate the transition to the new MyAgfood.ie platform).
A failure to complete and submit the LESS return will result in a delay in making the 2025 ACRES advance payment, and may also result in the rejection of the LESS action from their ACRES contract.
The Department advises that there is no requirement to enclose receipts when completing the form. These should be kept by the participant with their record sheets and be made available for any inspection.
In relation to ACRES, the Department of Agriculture ACRES sections highlights that the following requirements apply to the LESS action:
Holdings must have a grassland stocking rate of less than 100Kg nitrogen per hectare from grazing livestock manure prior to export of livestock manure. All the slurry applied on the farm (produced and/or imported) must, for each year of the contract, be spread by one or a combination of band spreading, injection systems or trailing shoe. Pig slurry is not eligible for payment under this action. Only slurry produced on the holding (excluding pig slurry) is eligible for payment. Participants must retain, and provide if requested, documentary evidence to confirm the spreading method used, and the volumes spread on the holding. For example, a calculation of the slurry produced, imported, spread and/or a receipt from the contractor or other evidence as required.The minimum volume of slurry that must be applied on the holding each year of the contract using one of the above listed methods is 50 cubic metres. For ease of calculation, one cubic metre is equal to 1,000 litres (220 gallons). The participant, or their approved ACRES adviser, must submit a completed annual slurry declaration return to the Department on the online portal. Only parcels with an eligible hectare >0 claimed on BISS 2025 will be available on the drop-down menu. Volume produced and volume imported must be entered in separate fields and at least one of the fields must be filled in. Multiple spread events on the same parcel can be inputted.