Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 October 2023
70. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is aware that organic farmers are being discriminated against under ACRES due to the scoring system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46300/23]
View answerThe core payment for ACRES Co-operation Project participants is determined by results-based scoring. As I'm sure the Deputy can appreciate, in order to avoid double funding for actions on the same land, there is an additional payment for Organics farmers in ACRES, but at a reduced rate, once the baseline requirements for the Organic Farm Scheme are met.
I can assure you that Organic Farming Scheme farmers are not being discriminated against in ACRES. Rather, to reflect the importance of the Organic Farming Scheme and its contribution to environmental objectives, organic farmers get priority access through the tiered approach to the ACRES scheme, and/or through the ranking and selection process.
Staff in my Department work closely across divisions to try and optimise the ability to accumulate payments between schemes, while also ensuring there is no dual payment for the same action.
Additionally, within ACRES Cooperation Projects we have allowed for all applicants to avail of up to €52,500 over the five-year duration of the scheme, through core payments and non-productive investments.
So even in situations where an OFS farmer may receive what is perceived as a lower payment, they still have the opportunity to claim additional payments for non-productive investments such as additional hedge or tree planting. In addition, they are awarded for the high-quality status of their land.
More generally, I was delighted to announce that I have increased the allocation for ACRES by €40 million, bringing the total scheme allocation to €200 million for 2024. This is a substantial increase on the 2023 budget of €160 million.
The provision of this additional funding will allow delivery on the Government’s commitment to have 50,000 farmers participating in ACRES, our flagship environmental programme under Ireland’s 2023-2027 CAP Strategic Plan.
