The latest data received by the Irish Farmers Journal shows that 129,957 scorecards were issued to advisers in 2025 under tranche I and tranche II of ACRES, with 42,777 scorecards completed and submitted through the Department’s AgriSnap facility by 30 July. This leaves in the region of 87,180 scorecards to be submitted by advisers before the deadline of 31 August 2025. Commonage land in ACRES in Co-operation zones are currently being scored by the ACRES Co-operation project teams in the respective zones, while larger commonage parcels in ACRES outside those Co-operation zones are being assessed and scored by contractors engaged by the Department of Agriculture for that purpose.

The Department reports that a significant area of commonage (estimated 420,000ha scored) is farmed under the ACRES umbrella, with approximately 85% of all commonages in Ireland managed under ACRES CP.

Scorecards for small commonage parcels have been issued to ACRES approved advisers. This is why there is a small number of scorecards listed for commonage in Table 1, which details a breakdown of scorecards. The highest number equating to 72% of scorecards (94,235) has been issued under the heading ACRES CP Farm Plan which are lands in Co-operation zones which are not part of a commonage and which a farm plan has been developed for.

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This was followed by 25,776 scorecards issued for farm sustainability plans (FSP) for farmers in ACRES general. ACRES parcels included in results-based actions must be scored in at least three years out of the five-year contract with year one being mandatory to establish a baseline score.

Scorecard types

There are ten scorecards used for the assessment of the land/parcels on which results-based payments are made under ACRES. Seven of the scorecards are habitat-focused (a habitat is a place where plants and animals live), while three are species-specific (chough, breeding wader and corncrake). Scorecards are issued on a whole parcel (WP) or split parcel (SP) basis.

Table 2 details a breakdown of scorecards issued under Co-operation zone farm plans. Almost 65% of such scorecards are for grassland habitats with another 14% categorised under rough grazing and a further 10% under peatland habitats.

As detailed in Table 3, the majority of scorecards issued under ACRES general farm sustainability plans relate to low-input grassland. While Table 4 details the breakdown for commonage parcels issued to ACRES advisers with peatland scorecards dominating.

Scoring process

All scorecards (CP results-based scorecards and scorecards for general actions) for each holding must be submitted within 14 days of initiating the first scorecard. The last day for submission of scorecards to the Department is 31 August each year. ACRES-approved advisers are currently undertaking mandatory scorecard training.

“For the scores submitted to be deemed valid and used in the determination of ACRES payments in respect of 2025, they must be submitted by an approved ACRES adviser who has completed mandatory in-field scorecard training in 2025. Once an ACRES scorecard is submitted, it will not be possible to make further changes to the scorecard.

Scores are listed between four and 10, with scores of less than four receiving no payment. For commonage, a participation payment is set at €50/ha on the first 20 Hectares irrespective of the results-based score. The results-based payment rates are inclusive of this participation payment.”