ACRES payment shambles worsens

Over 8,600 farmers in ACRES are in limbo, waiting for balancing payments to be processed by the Department of Agriculture. A further 6,975 farmers have been issued with demands to repay upwards of €12m due to an overpayment of their interim payment.

Department officials have said mapping discrepancies, scorecard issues, scheme contract changes and outstanding BISS queries are to blame for the delays to the balancing payments in the scheme.

It expects 95% of balancing payments to be processed by the end of this month, but added that it predicts further repayment demands to be issued as applications are processed.

To date, 1,191 general and 5,784 co-operation farmers have been overpaid on their interim payment, by an average figure of €1,741.

In a further blow, farmers – many along the western seaboard – who are involved in the co-operation measure of ACRES will not receive payment for non-productive investments (NPIs) this year.

The Department has confirmed that it will be the end of the year before NPI measures are approved. Almost 4,300 farmers applied for NPIs in 2023, which are worth up to €3,500 per farmer.

Losing faith in scheme

IFA hill farming chair Cáillin Conneely said that farmers in the ACRES co-operation scheme had been sold a pup and that farmers were losing faith in the scheme.

INHFA vice-president John Joe Fitzgerald called on the Department to suspend plans to recover overpayments from farmers, saying mapping issues could have a “massive bearing on a farmer’s final payment”.

Advance ACRES payments for 2024 are due to begin in November.