Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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20. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason farmers in the organic farming scheme were excluded from the Rural Environmental-Agri Pilot Programme. [26917/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Results Based Environment Agri Pilot (REAP) is an ambitious environmental project designed to test the results based approach on a variety of farm types. The project will feed into the development of the next national agri-environment scheme to follow on from GLAS. REAP is designed to focus on key learning objectives for participants and their advisors.

The REAP scorecard based system has been developed to assess the sustainability of agricultural grasslands. It is a targeted measure for farmers not currently participating in other agri-environment schemes and is an opportunity to broaden the base of participation in agri-environment projects.

The REAP project is a short-term transitional measure which uses additional funding I secured in the budget for farmers for this year. This necessitated a quick turnaround and I am happy to confirm that the project is on track despite the extremely tight timeframe.

Driving the organic farming sector is also a key priority for the Department and we have set an ambitious target in the Programme for Government to bring the participation rate up to the EU average during the lifetime of this Government. The main support available to organic farmers through the Department's Organic Farming Scheme which we rolled over to this year by providing an extra year's contract to all participants.

We also reopened it this year to new entrants and I'm very pleased that a further 317 applications were received to join the latest tranche of the scheme which will increase the number of organic farmers in Ireland by 20%.

In terms of participation in both schemes though, double funding under schemes is prohibited under EU regulations which was a consideration in only opening REAP to farmers who are not in any of the schemes or projects such as GLAS and Organics.

I am very pleased with the level of interest shown in REAP by both farmers and their advisors. This level of interest is particularly welcome at a time when work on designing new agri environment measures under the CAP Strategic Plan is progressing.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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21. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the sources of funding of the Results-Based Environment-Agri Pilot Project; if he will review the payment rates for the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26494/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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An additional €79 million, including €23 million from the carbon tax fund, was provided in Budget 2021 to support actions by the Department in the area of biodiversity, climate, environment and farm health and safety, all the while supporting farm incomes. This is already being implemented across a range of agri-environment measures including the Results Based Environment Agri Pilot (REAP). REAP will be co-funded from the technical assistance budget of the Rural Development Programme, subject to EU Commission approval of the 10th amendment to the Programme.

REAP is an innovative, ambitious and farmer-friendly pilot that will deliver an important income boost to farmers while driving environmental benefits. It also helps the Department and indeed farmers and advisors to test some innovative actions and results-based scoring to inform the design of the next big agri-environment scheme. While the project will support our environmental objectives, it will also support farm incomes by providing up to €12,600 to participating farms over the term of their REAP contract. It is a targeted measure for farmers not currently participating in other agri-environment schemes.

The application stage is now closed and I’m delighted with the level of interest shown with approximately 10,800 applications submitted from 455 advisors. Obviously this is heavily over-subscribed and we are reviewing the scheme approvals in this light. I have written to the EU Commissioner for Agriculture to inform him on the application rate and to explore opportunities for approving more farmers.

REAP will score farm features to identify how management practices have impacted on the environmental status of the holding. Scoring will be calculated with reference to defined indicators, chosen to reflect overall biodiversity and ecological integrity. Payments will be linked to environmental quality. In recognition of the environmental and biodiversity quality achieved, farms with the highest scoring will receive the greatest payment. The model gives the farmer the ability to boost their payments by incentivising positive environmental works.

REAP will provide a positive boost to farm incomes while driving environmental ambition. It is a real and tangible example of the partnership approach Government wants to take with farmers in addressing the climate and biodiversity challenges.