Update for participants in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES)

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine wishes to advise farmers who are participating in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) of the following:

Assessment and scoring of ACRES land/parcels is under way – deadline for completion 31 August 2025

Non-commonage land/parcels in ACRES which attract a results-based payment are currently being assessed and scored by your ACRES advisor. Scorecards were issued to your ACRES Advisor from 3 June 2025 in respect of the ACRES land/parcels to be scored this year.

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). Your ACRES Farm Advisor will use one or more of the scorecards which are relevant to your land. Blank copies of the scorecards to be completed may be seen on the department’s website.

As this is the mid-point of the scoring period, the department has reminded ACRES Advisors that completed ACRES scorecards should be returned within 14 days of initiating the first scorecard and before the last date for submission of scorecards which is 31 August 2025. It is essential that completed scorecards are submitted by 31 August 2025 to facilitate the timely issue of ACRES advance payments to participants in respect of 2025 later this year.

Commonage land in ACRES in the ACRES Co-operation zones is also currently being assessed and scored by the ACRES Co-operation Project Teams in the respective zones, while commonage in ACRES outside those Co-operation zones is being assessed and scored by contractors engaged by the department for that purpose.

NPI Claims system now open

The claims system for the submission of claims by ACRES Co-operation participants, or their ACRES advisor, in respect of the implementation of Non-Productive Investments (NPIs) approved under their 2023 Annual Work Plan (‘AWP’) and/or their 2024 AWP is now open and applications for payment should be submitted as soon as possible.

An NPI Question and Answer document and a recording of our recent webinar is available on the department’s website to address any queries you have on making such a claim. You may also contact the department at ACRESNPI@agriculture.gov.ie

Landscape Actions

The Landscape Actions element of the ACRES Co-operation approach is now open for applications from ACRES Co-operation Project (CP) Teams for actions that will support farmers in the Co-operation approach of the Scheme to target specific environmental priorities. These are large-scale environmental actions focussing on issues such as threatened species, water quality protection, invasive species management and encroaching scrub management in species-rich grassland.

As Landscape Actions are larger scale complementary environmental actions compared to NPIs, the ACRES CP Teams will play a key role, through their direct engagement with ACRES Co-operation participants, in the efficient and effective targeting of Landscape Actions at landscape level in their respective ACRES Co-operation zones.

The ACRES CP Teams will be engaging with the ACRES Co-operation farmers in their areas and will be preparing applications on their behalf in the form of a Landscape Action Annual Works Plan.

A public consultation process on the Appropriate Assessment (required under environmental legislation) of the proposed Landscape Actions is currently underway. Decision letters will only issue once this process has been completed and a Determination made on the Appropriate Assessment.