Update on farm payments under the new CAP
- Foilsithe: 6 Nollaig 2023
- An t-eolas is déanaí: 28 Eanáir 2024
Over 113,000 farmers have received funding under the new CAP Strategic Plan which was rolled out this year. Payments will continue to issue to farmers this month across a number of schemes including the Organic Farming Scheme, ACRES and the Eco scheme.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, said:
“Our national CAP Strategic Plan will deliver some €9.8 billion to our farm families over the next five years to support them to continue to produce world-class, safe and sustainable food as well as supporting them in their important work of meeting our climate ambitions.
"A whole range of new schemes have been introduced along with substantial changes to existing schemes over a relatively short period. In the first year of the new CAP to date, some €1.2 billion has been paid to farmers and payments will continue to issue this month.”
Since October payments have been issuing to farmers under the new CAP, including the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS), the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme, and the new Eco Scheme.
This month advance payments will commence issuing for the Organic Farming Scheme and the flagship agri-environment scheme, ACRES. Balancing payments for the Eco Scheme will also commence.
Speaking about ACRES, the Minister said:
“Earlier this year, I decided to approve all 46,000 valid applicants into ACRES, across both the General and Co-operation Project streams. ACRES is an extremely ambitious scheme and Ireland is leading the way on a results-based approach of such scale among other Member States. Under the Scheme, twenty-five percent of the productive land area in the State has been scored for the first time.”
Minister McConalogue acknowledged the intensive and focused effort from all concerned - from his department, from advisors, from Co-operation Project Teams, and from farmers – in working together on the first year of this new scheme.
Minister McConalogue further acknowledged that farmers were expecting payment before the end of the year but noted that the collective decision and hard work to include all 46,000 applicants into Tranche 1 of ACRES had put significant pressure on delivering all payments by year end.
The Minister said:
”My team has been working very hard to expedite this as quickly as possible but with the unprecedented numbers, it has not been possible to get all applicants paid in ACRES by the year end. Payments will commence on 18 December with two thirds of all ACRES General participants in the final stages of being processed for payment before the year end. Due to the additional complexity associated with the co-operation (CP) stream, payments for ACRES CP participants are being progressed and will begin to issue in February 2024."
Concluding, the Minister said:
"I can assure all ACRES applicants that everything possible is and will continue to be done to expedite payments to all 46,000 farmers."
Notes
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. Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan is co-funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the EU. For more information, visit www.gov.ie/cap.
The Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) is designed to provide a direct income support to Irish farmers to underpin their continued sustainability and viability.
The Eco-Scheme has been introduced for the first time as part of the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027. The aim of the Eco-Scheme is to reward farmers, from all farming sectors and from different levels of intensity, for undertaking actions that are beneficial to the climate, environment, water quality, and biodiversity.
ACRES payments will commence the week beginning 18 December. The sequence of payments will start with ACRES General. Payments for ACRES Co-operation Project (CP) participants are being progressed and will begin to issue in February 2024. ACRES Training Scheme (ATS) payments are issuing on an ongoing basis. Two-thirds of all ACRES General participants are in the final stages of being processed for payment before the year's end. This is consistent with the rates achieved in previous agri-environment schemes. This is the first time delivering such a complex payment structure – prescription- and results-based actions, on a national scale. The department will continue to process payments, both General, CP and ATS until all valid claims are paid.