Over 98% of the 170,000 ACRES scorecards sent out to advisers have been received by the Department of Agriculture.
Announcing the update to the status of scorecards Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said that results-based payments and the use of scorecards is a fundamental element of ACRES to award the environmental ambition across farms in Ireland.
In total over 170,000 scorecards were issued across 10 scorecard types.
The minister added: “These scorecards are a valuable resource and key to informing our farmers on how to maintain and improve the quality of the habitats in our farmed landscape.
"The success of ACRES and the delivery of enhanced ecosystems services is reflective of a collective and collaborative approach by all stakeholders, including farmers, advisors, CP teams, my Department and across government.”
The minister acknowledged the effort that approved ACRES advisers had put into scoring lands over the past number of months as well as the work carried out by the ACRES Co-operation Project (CP) Teams in late spring, assigning scorecards to habitats in the CP Zones.
Technical issues
The minister said that officials are now actively following up with advisers on any technical issues raised on scorecards yet to be submitted.
Cases, he said, that clear all payment validations will be included in the first payment run.
Cases not meeting all the validation requirements, including scorecard checks, will be reviewed on a weekly basis and paid once outstanding issues are resolved.
The minister also drew attention to the recent publication of the list of proposed Non-Productive Investments (NPIs) for which participants in the ACRES Co-operation approach may apply.
Farmers in the co-operative approach can apply for investments or landscape actions annually and avail of €3,500 a year, over the five years of ACRES.
