The system for farmers to submit payment claims under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) non-productive investments (NPIs) opened on Thursday 17 July.

There is potentially upwards of 76,000 investments eligible for payment but it is unknown how many such investments have been completed.

Some ACRES approved advisors have reported that some farmers who applied in 2023 did not complete investments due to a lack of clarity around when payment would be forthcoming.

Table 1 (see below) details the range of investments and the associated numbers. The installation of gates, barn owl/kestrel nest boxes, fencing and water troughs were the most common investments submitted.

In announcing the opening of the claims system Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said “these actions are an integral element of ACRES, supporting farmers to enhance environmental outcomes on their holdings, thereby increasing their ACRES payments. Almost 4,300 applicants received approval for actions in the 2023 scheme year, and it is heartening to see this number increased to approximately 4,800 in 2024.

The third application window will open later this quarter and I encourage farmers to continue to avail of the funding available to them through NPIs”.

Submitting claims

Claims may be submitted for both the 2023 Annual Work Plans (‘AWPs’) and 2024 AWPs subject to certain conditions. Only one payment claim per AWP may be submitted and each action should be fully completed/established/installed in compliance with the relevant specification before the claim is entered on the system. There will be the facility available for five days only following the submission of the claim for its withdrawal or amendment.

The closing date for submission of claims is noted on the NPI decision letters for the respective year of application. The Department states that payments for submitted claims will start to issue by early October at the latest.

The Department is hosting an information webinar on Thursday 17 July from 10am to 11am to demonstrate the claims system and assist those submitting applications. Registration is required and can be completed here. The Department adds that manuals and specifications will also be available on Thursday 17 July on their website and can be found in the ACRES portal.

2025 tranche

The next application window for submitting NPIs is quarter three of 2025. NPIs are only available to participants in the ACRES Co-operation stream. Participants have a budget of €17,500 each over the lifetime of their contracts and this is where the figure stems from with regards drawing down a maximum payment of €10,500 per annum.

However, any participant who does not claim the full ACRES CP core payment of €7,000 will have any unclaimed amount added to their NPI budget.

Applications, in the form of NPI Annual Work plans, are prepared and submitted by ACRES advisors on behalf of their clients.

The NPI category list and specifications are published on the Department’s website at gov - Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) (www.gov.ie) which also has further information about where the relevant investments may be located, the amount of funding available and the associated payment rate.