McConalogue Launches Review of Acres Scheme
- Published on: 30 October 2024
- Last updated on: 12 April 2025
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., today announced that a review of the ACRES Scheme will take place over the coming months.
The Minister said:
“ACRES represents a very significant step forward in the level of ambition that we want to achieve from an agri-environmental scheme. The results-based approach is central to this. ACRES has leveraged the experience gained from European Innovation Partnership projects and the REAP Scheme, with the result that the area covered by results-based actions has increased from 80,000 hectares to 1.2 million hectares, and the number of farmers implementing such actions has increased from 3,200 to 35,000. As the Scheme approaches the end of its second year, it is timely to review the experience to date, to identify what has worked well, and to consider areas where lessons can be learned for the future.”
“In an overall sense, ACRES is working well for most farmers, and more than €247 million in payments have issued to participants since its inception.
However, I am aware, for example, that some farmers may have received lower scores, and therefore lower payments, than they might have expected. Without compromising on environmental ambition, I have asked my department to review the experience with the scheme to date, and to consider whether it can work better for these participants.”
Referring to the review, the Minister said:
“I want to assess the options and identify ways of advancing the scheme to improve, in particular, the experience for those in CP who have a low score. I have asked my Department in that context to meet with farm organisations, FAS advisors and the CP teams to get their views, with a view to coming to a conclusion by the end of the year.
Concluding, Minister McConalogue said:
“This is a scheme with high environmental ambition. I secured record funding for it, and ensured that all 55,000 farmers who applied were accepted into the scheme. This is 10% more than was committed to.
I have recently committed to examining whether a way can be found to facilitate newly qualified farmers in 2025. When it became apparent to me that some participants would experience payment delays, I approved an unprecedented interim payment. This meant that all farmers in the scheme were paid either an advance or interim payment by the end of March.
This review aims to assess how we can improve farmers’ experience of the scheme, ensure its environmental ambition is fully realised, and make sure that ACRES is working effectively for everyone”.
ENDS
Notes to Editor
The EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) is a partnership between society and agriculture that ensures a stable supply of food, safeguards farmers’ income, protects the environment and keeps rural areas vibrant. EU countries implement the CAP at national level with a tailored CAP Strategic Plan for the period 2023-2027.