Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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140. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide details on the way that he proposes to ensure that farmers who were heretofore participants on the Burrenbeo scheme in County Clare will not see a reduced income when they join the new ACRES scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61145/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I am a huge admirer of the Burren scheme and its achievements over the years. It is for this reason that we have taken the best features of that scheme and incorporated them into ACRES which is the flagship agri-environment scheme under the new CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027. The Government has committed €1.5 billion to ACRES over the term 2023 to 2027. This is the largest amount ever committed to an agri-environment scheme. The Scheme has two approaches: 

- ACRES Co-operation Project (CP), which applies in eight mapped zones that are areas of high nature value.

- ACRES General, for all other farmers not falling within CP Zones. 

Based on the learnings from the Burren Programme and European Innovation Partnership (EIP) projects and using a habitats-based approach, ACRES will contribute to improving biodiversity, climate, air, and water quality outcomes.   

ACRES CP takes the locally led approach of the Burren Programme and EIPs and, as was always the intention, scales it up to a national level.   The Burren Programme currently has a participation of just over 300 farmers. 

An additional 1,000 farmers, in excess of a 300% increase, will participate in the ACRES Burren Aran CP Zone.  Increasing farmer participation numbers beyond the limited numbers at present requires a balance to be struck to ensure that as an attractive payment rate is offered whilst ensuring that as many farmers as possible can join, with the resulting increase in the amount of land providing environmental benefit. 

A maximum payment of €10,500 annually is available to ACRES CP participants.  Seven thousand euros is ring-fenced for results-based payments, with the additional €3,500 set aside for non-productive investments (NPIs) and landscape actions.  The purpose of non-productive investments and landscape actions is to improve the habitat and thereby the scores achieved in the results-based approach taken on holdings in CP Zones. 

My Department has, with the assistance of the Co-operation Project Teams (CP Teams), compiled a list of approx. 50 NPIs.  Participants in the CP Zones will have the assistance of CP Teams, who will meet and discuss with farmers on how best to use NPIs on their holding to ensure, among other things, that they receive as high a level of income as possible from the Scheme. 

This is also about increasing the environmental ambition. Under the Burren Programme, 11,000ha of species-rich habitats were assessed, whereas it is expected that 40,000ha of high-nature value farmland will be assessed under ACRES CP in the Burren/Aran area. 

This means that 29,000ha of additional land will be subject to an assessment of the habitat quality and the threats and pressures to that habitat and species in those areas.  ACRES therefore, represents a significant upscaling in environmental monitoring and assessment in the region.

In addition to this, my Department has been working closely with the Burren and the seven other CP Teams to develop a bonus structure to incentivise farmers with large areas of high nature value land. The aim is to reward such farmers to maintain and improve their land, thereby prevent backsliding or environmental decline. This “landscape” or “high achievement” bonus must and will be fair and equitable to all participants in CP Zones. Work is ongoing on this.