Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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1126. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way in which the €79 million for agri-environmental pilot measures in the 2021 budget is being spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21276/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I secured an additional €79 million, including €23 million carbon tax, in Budget 2021 to support action in the area of biodiversity, climate, environment and health and safety, all the while supporting farm incomes.

My intention is to allocate the funding as follows:

- Re-opening of the organic farming scheme €5m,

- Straw Incorporation measure (SIM) €10m,

- Agri-environment training for farmers €10m,

- REAP – Results based environment-agri pilot projects €10m,

- Soil sampling €10m,

- Farm Environmental Study €5m,

- TAMS environment €20m,

- Rewetting EIP – €3m,

- Continuous Professional Development for advisors €1m,

- Health and safety initiatives under EIP-AGRI €1m,

- Biodiversity actions for farmers and communities €1.25m and

- Peatland rejuvenation €3m. 

EU approval is required and my Department has submitted the tenth amendment to the Rural Development Programme (RDP) to the European Commission for its approval, after which the final allocation of the €79 million funding will be decided.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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1127. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the rationale for selecting farmers based on either the lowest stocking rate for farmers with less than 140kg N/ha stocking rate or farmers with greater than 140kg N/ha stocking rate for the results-based environment-agri pilot project scheme; if he will provide a response to the criticism from farming organisations that this approach excludes the vast majority of medium intensity farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21277/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Results Based Environment Agri Pilot Project (REAP) is designed to test the results based concept in the broadest possible range of farming conditions. Ranking and selection of applicants will only take place if the project is oversubscribed. In this event, two separate groups will be identified based on their stocking levels, one with less than 140kg N/ha stocking rate and one for farmers with greater than 140kg N/ha stocking. This is to ensure that the two score cards developed can be tested on the appropriate enterprise types.

The Low Input Grassland scorecard has been designed to be largely suited to extensive farmer and the Multi-Species Ley has been designed with medium intensive farmers in mind. Hence, the need for two groups. It is important to note that these groups themselves are not in direct competition with each other, but will be used to ensure we get a proportionate uptake from each group to test the aforementioned score cards.

Applicants will then be ranked against other applicants within their group on their water status, proportion of Natura levels and proportion of ANC levels. Consideration may also be given to ensuring a sufficient geographical spread.

Stocking rates are not a criteria in this process once the applicant has been allocated to their appropriate group and thus no farmers are excluded due to stocking rate. Further details on this project are available on the Department’s section of the Government website.

I want the REAP pilot to support farmers of all size and scale. By carrying out actions on 10ha of land, it means that both larger and smaller farmers can benefit from.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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1128. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there is a cap on the amount an individual farmer can receive for stone wall quality and or tree planting under the results-based environment-agri pilot project scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21278/21]

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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1129. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if it will be ensured that the results-based environment-agri pilot project scheme has a payment of €10,000 to make it viable for farmers to participate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21279/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1128 and 1129 together.

The Programme for Government commits to rewarding farmers for adapting to more sustainable methods of farming and to the development of a new agri-environment scheme capable of delivering broad environmental and biodiversity benefits that will align financial supports with climate objectives. To advance this aim, the Results-Based Environmental Agri Pilot Project (REAP) opened for applications last week.

REAP is an innovative and ambitious initiative designed to test the results-based model on participating farms and will feed into the development of the next national agri-environment scheme to follow on from GLAS. It is not an agri-environment scheme but rather a pilot to test certain actions to see if they would be suitable for inclusion in the next large-scale agri-environment scheme.

While the project will support our environmental objectives, it will also support farm income by providing up to €12,600 to participating farms over the two-year term of their REAP contract. This record level of investment in on-farm agri-environment measures demonstrates the commitment of this Government to achieving our environmental goals while investing in farm incomes.

Full details of the project including payment rates, terms, conditions and specifications are now available on the Department's section of the Government website.