Farmers are “fed up with excuses” over delayed payments from the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), according to the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA).
The INHFA claims that it seen an increasing number of farmers contacting its office with concerns over their delayed payments.
Speaking on the issue, association president Vincent Roddy said the Department of Agriculture needs to prioritise these payments despite its IT system issues.
“Many farmers who have been in touch have not seen payments since the interim payment in February of last year and this has resulted in countless farmers seeing no further payment for 2024,” he said.
“IT issues within the Department of Agriculture are being cited as the main issue in processing payments, but [we] stressed the need for urgent action from the Department to get all outstanding payments made.
“Farmers are fed up with excuses,” he added. “If the system is not capable of achieving this, then the Department must identify a way to manually process payments.”
Staffing
The INHFA called on Minister of Agriculture Martin Heydon to make more staff within the Department available to resolve the issues.
Moving beyond the payment debacle, Roddy pointed to another key aspect driving farmer frustration, that being actions under the ACRES scheme.
“With many farmers still awaiting the go-ahead on actions applied for in autumn 2023 under the non-productive investments (NPIs), as well as clarity on the LAs [landscape actions], we are at the stage where there seems to be no element of the scheme that actually works.
“For over 2,000 farmers still awaiting balancing payments and many others still awaiting their first payment for 2024, ACRES hasn’t just failed them, but has left some farmers needing to take out loans to pay outstanding bills, ultimately causing undue stress, whilst also having a negative impact on the mental health of the affected farmers.”
Read more
Over 13,000 farmers waiting on ACRES payments
People in west feel left behind after storm Éowyn - IFA
Scheme payments update: €1.3m paid under BISS and CRISS
€21.9m paid to 5,143 more ACRES participants
Farmers are “fed up with excuses” over delayed payments from the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), according to the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA).
The INHFA claims that it seen an increasing number of farmers contacting its office with concerns over their delayed payments.
Speaking on the issue, association president Vincent Roddy said the Department of Agriculture needs to prioritise these payments despite its IT system issues.
“Many farmers who have been in touch have not seen payments since the interim payment in February of last year and this has resulted in countless farmers seeing no further payment for 2024,” he said.
“IT issues within the Department of Agriculture are being cited as the main issue in processing payments, but [we] stressed the need for urgent action from the Department to get all outstanding payments made.
“Farmers are fed up with excuses,” he added. “If the system is not capable of achieving this, then the Department must identify a way to manually process payments.”
Staffing
The INHFA called on Minister of Agriculture Martin Heydon to make more staff within the Department available to resolve the issues.
Moving beyond the payment debacle, Roddy pointed to another key aspect driving farmer frustration, that being actions under the ACRES scheme.
“With many farmers still awaiting the go-ahead on actions applied for in autumn 2023 under the non-productive investments (NPIs), as well as clarity on the LAs [landscape actions], we are at the stage where there seems to be no element of the scheme that actually works.
“For over 2,000 farmers still awaiting balancing payments and many others still awaiting their first payment for 2024, ACRES hasn’t just failed them, but has left some farmers needing to take out loans to pay outstanding bills, ultimately causing undue stress, whilst also having a negative impact on the mental health of the affected farmers.”
Read more
Over 13,000 farmers waiting on ACRES payments
People in west feel left behind after storm Éowyn - IFA
Scheme payments update: €1.3m paid under BISS and CRISS
€21.9m paid to 5,143 more ACRES participants
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