ICMSA welcomes ACRES review and a focus on addressing a lack of farmer confidence in the scheme

Speaking following the announcement by the Minister of Agriculture Food and the Marine that there will be a review into the ‘flagship’ ACRES environmental scheme for farmers, the Deputy President of ICMSA welcomed the move. 

Eamon Carroll, who also chairs the association’s Farm & Rural Affairs Committee, said there is a real lack of confidence in ACRES at present and that trust and belief in the scheme needs to be instilled or the scheme will not only ‘fizzle out’ in the coming years but erode the enthusiasm of farmers for participation in future schemes.

“ICMSA acknowledge the ‘bandwidth’ that the ACRES scheme is covering, and we have tried to be positive about the scheme from the start.

But the undeniable facts are that the scheme has underperformed and has fallen well short of what was going to be require, both in terms of administration and payments.

It’s just been wholly inadequate and has never really established itself as the kind of ‘flagship’ agri-environmental scheme it was meant to be – and which farmers would have welcomed.

For instance, it’s a very poor relation of REPS in terms of payments and we have to assume that the need for a really effective agri-environment scheme is more urgent now 25-odd years later.

If ACRES is to be rescued, then it needs a full review around every facet and we are certain that any such review must involve farmers and advisors.

If ICMSA is going to participate in such a review – and we would be happy to do so – then we’ll want an assurance that all the recommendations arising from such a review will be implemented: the Department cannot ask us all for diagnose what’s wrong with ACRES and then pick and choose which the solutions to the problems identified”, said Mr. Carroll.

The ICMSA Deputy President said that ACRES had been ‘plagued’ by problems since it was launched but he still believed that there “was a good scheme in there trying to get out”.

“We do think it’s rescuable and more to the point – we think it could be improved in a way that made it workable for the intensive farmers who are the group who the Department should be trying to bring in. We think that they are looking for an environmental scheme and we think that ACRES could be reformed in a way that would appeal to them”, said Mr. Carroll.