A Department of Agriculture source has confirmed there are “no documents” prepared for the thousands of farmers due to enter the flagship agri-environmental scheme, hailed as REPS II, at the start of 2021.

With a budget of €79m, drawn in part from increased carbon tax, the scheme played on the nostalgia many farmers felt for the original REPS, while satisfying Green Party concerns around biodiversity measures on farms.

The Department admitted that the scheme open date has been pushed back to April 2021, but thousands of farmers will face financial uncertainty in the interim.

Government documents seen by this newspaper show that 6,000 fewer farmers are expected be in the current agri-environmental scheme, GLAS, next year, while a remaining 2,800 are in limbo following the conclusion of AEOS.

In an interview with the Irish Farmers Journal, the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue urged farmers to accept the one-year extension to their current GLAS contracts.

There is a lack of clarity over whether REPS II funding will be based solely on the €23m from carbon tax

“If you decide not to take up the GLAS extension, the new pilot [REPS II] will not be available to you,” he said.

It is now clear that the €79m will be broken up between the REPS II and other agri-environmental schemes that all farmers can enter.

This funding will be drawn from €23m ringfenced from carbon tax revenue in 2021, with an additional €52m for “agri-environmental schemes”, according to Government estimates.

McConalogue has promised a consultation on what form these schemes will take in mid-January, but it leaves a question mark over how and when funds will be divided.

As it stands, REPS II is aimed at farmers outside GLAS, while farmers in GLAS would be permitted to access the other agri-environmental schemes.

There is a lack of clarity over whether REPS II funding will be based solely on the €23m from carbon tax. This would leave the remaining pot of money open to all farmers who are already in GLAS or other schemes.