Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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334. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will consider extending the deadline for the ACRES past the current deadline of 21 November 2022 for a further four weeks to allow farmers and agri-planners to arrange the necessary on-farm inspections in advance of applications being made, given many farmers will be locked out of the scheme otherwise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56026/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) is the agri-environment climate measure under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027 .  Farmers may apply for one of the approaches available under ACRES, namely the ACRES Co-operation approach, available to farmers in eight defined high priority geographical areas, or the ACRES General approach which is available nationally outside of the eight ACRES Co-operation zones. 

Farmers must engage the services of an approved ACRES advisor to prepare and submit the application. This includes the preparation of a Farm Sustainability Plan (FSP) which forms the bulk of the application.

The intake into the scheme is phased, with at least two tranches, to spread the workload of advisors. 

There are currently just under 700 advisors approved for ACRES. Significant assistance was provided to advisors in advance of the formal opening of the Scheme to enable them to engage with their clients and commence preparation of the Farm Sustainability Plans.  

The online system for the submission of ACRES applications was opened on 17th October 2022 with a closing date of Monday 21st November 2022 for the submission of applications under the current Tranche. 

Notwithstanding the level of assistance provided and this closing date representing a five-week application period, I am conscious that the submission of ACRES applications is creating a significant workload for, and pressure on, advisors.  For this reason, I have decided to extend the deadline for submission of applications for ACRES to Monday 5th December 2022.