The 850 farmers across Donegal who have applied for Tranche 2 of the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) will be accepted into the scheme.
Announcing the decision, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, said that just under 6,000 farmers in Donegal are now participating in ACRES.
“They are receiving average payments of either €5,500 under the cooperation stream, or €4,500 for through the general stream over the course of the year as a critical part of farm family income,” he commented.
Pointing out that places for 9,000 applicants into the second tranche had been secured nationally, Minister McConalogue added: “This has resulted in putting in place the best funded agri-environment scheme ever, and also one of the largest, with 55,000 farmers are now facilitated to participate.
“The level of interest shown by farmers in the ACRES Scheme since its launch has been hugely encouraging in terms of farmers engagement with environmental action. I was adamant that none of this engagement and ambition would be left behind.”
ACRES is the Government’s flagship agri-environmental scheme, with an allocation of €1.5 billion over the period to 2027 aimed at facilitating the participation of 50,000 farmers in significant and targeted environmental action over a five-year period.
Last year, in response to the exceptional demand for places, Minister McConalogue admitted more than 46,000 farmers under Tranche 1 of the scheme. When the second Tranche of the scheme closed for applications in December 2023 a further 9,000 applications had been received.
“The ambition of farmers had to be recognised and so I engaged with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (DPENDER) to explore all options to facilitate farmers,” Minister McConalogue said.
“This week, following further meetings between our two Departments, I was delighted to reach an agreement with Minister Donohoe that all applicants to Tranche 2 can be accepted into the Scheme. This matches farmers’ commitment to the environment with the Government’s own commitment. This is tangible, quantifiable delivery for the country and will, for example, mean that an additional area of approximately 100,000 hectares will be brought into meaningful environmental action. I want to thank Minister Donohoe for his engagement in achieving this positive result,” the Minister for Agriculture added.
“My Department will be in touch with all Tranche 2 applicants in due course in relation to their participation in the Scheme. I look forward to seeing the additional environmental dividend that will be realised by this decision over the duration of the Scheme.”
