Mayo farmers to receive interim ACRES payments this week

MORE than 3,300 farmers in Mayo will receive interim payments in Tranche 1 of the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).

Deputy Alan Dillon has been informed by the Department of Agriculture that 3,335 Mayo farmers will received a total of €16,105,000 into their bank accounts this week.

This funding applies to those who have not yet received their advance payments for participation in the scheme.

Said Deputy Dillon: “The amounts being paid are €4,000 to those in the ACRES General approach and €5,000 to participants in the ACRES Co-operation Project approach. The overall amount being paid, in this first pay run, is €113.617 million to 23,709 ACRES participants. There are, however, a small number of applications requiring further processing, and the interim payment in respect of this cohort will issue in about 10 days’ time.”

Deputy Dillon added: “The Department of Agriculture is continuing to process ACRES Tranche 1 contracts with the intention of making payments to all eligible participants in June 2024. A letter is being issued this week to all those ACRES participants who are getting the interim payment to let them know that the ACRES payment will take into account the amount already paid to them in the interim payment. It will also outline the process if the ACRES payment is calculated to be less than the amount of the interim payment.”

He concluded: “The combination of the numbers involved, the complexity of the payment calculations and this being the first year of the ACRES Scheme has meant that the processing of advance payments is taking longer than envisaged. Notwithstanding these factors, the department has already issued advance payments to the value of €88.4 million to 19,719 participants, and continues to work to ensure that the processing of ACRES payments is a priority, with the focus now very much on issuing payments in June 2024.”