The Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) has warned that the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) will erode the enthusiasm of farmers for future schemes if issues are not addressed fully.

It comes in response to Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue’s announcement that there will be a review into the environmental scheme for farmers over the coming months.

The ICMSA has welcomed the move and hopes that it will address the lack of farmer confidence in the "flagship" scheme.

Association deputy president Eamon Carroll said he understands the "bandwidth" that the scheme is covering.

“We have tried to be positive about the scheme from the start. But the undeniable facts are that the scheme has underperformed and has fallen well short of what was going to be required, both in terms of administration and payments.

“It’s just been wholly inadequate and has never really established itself as the kind of flagship agri-environmental scheme it was meant to be - and which farmers would have welcomed.”

Issues

The ICMSA has cited the poor relation of REPS in terms of payments as a major issue with the scheme.

“If [the] ICMSA is going to participate in such a review - and we would be happy to do so - then we’ll want an assurance that all the recommendations arising from such a review will be implemented,” Carroll added.

“We do think it’s rescue-able and, more to the point, we think it could be improved in a way that made it workable for the intensive farmers who are the group who the Department should be trying to bring in.

“We think that they are looking for an environmental scheme and we think that ACRES could be reformed in a way that would appeal to them.”

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