There is a big variation in the price farmers can expect to pay their advisers to complete ACRES plans.

Farmers with Teagasc who are looking to apply for ACRES will be charged between €320 and €550, depending on farm size, Teagasc has confirmed.

Farms less than 10ha in size will be charged the lower figure of €320, while farms between 10ha and 35ha will be charged €450 and farms over 35ha will be charged €550. These prices are for people who are already paying for the Teagasc club package or the Teagasc technology package.

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Farmers who don’t need a callout by the adviser or mapping, for example those on commonage, will be charged a lower rate.

Farms meeting this criteria and who are under 10ha will be charged €160, those between 10ha and 35ha will be charged €225 and those over 35ha will be charged €275.

Tom Canning of Canning Agricultural Consultants has said that they are well on target to submit 160 plans at a charge of €800 including VAT for the first year and €600 including VAT for subsequent years.

“ACRES is hugely time-consuming. You’d be struggling to do two per day. I would not do an application unless I walked a farm. Our average payment per farm is €5,300 per year,” he said.

A west-Cork based adviser who is dealing with more co-operation project areas plans is charging between €300 and €400 for these applications. For the general ACRES, consultants are charging between €400 and €600.