The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has revised some of the terms and conditions for the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).

In a circular issued to ACRES advisors today (Thursday, February 19), the department said the changes will apply to both tranches of the agri-environmental scheme.

Among the changes is an update to the penalty schedule in relation to 'priority actions' which farmers may have committed to undertake in order to secure a place in the scheme.

"As all valid applications for ACRES were accepted for both tranches, the prioritisation of applications on basis of the actions submitted therein was not required," the document stated.

ACRES

Therefore, the department said it is considered inappropriate to apply penalties in relation to ‘priority actions’ where submitted.

"The relevant penalties have therefore now been removed from the penalty schedule," it confirmed.

DAFM has said this means famers who drop priority actions which they may have taken on just to gain access to ACRES will not be penalised for dropping them.

The department has confirmed that it will seek to recoup any monies paid out for the particular action over the previous scheme years.

However, a farmer will no longer stand to lose their entire ACRES payment for a year due to not completing a selected priority action.

DAFM

The department is also reminding farmers in ACRES of three upcoming deadlines, all of which fall on February 28, 2026.

Annual declarations for the Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) action must be submitted to the department using the online portal by this date.

Farmers are also required to make their annual declaration for the Conservation of Rare Breeds action in respect of 2024 by February 28.

The penalty for non-submission these declarations is the rejection of that action from the participants’ ACRES contract.

Finally, soil sample results or the soil sample exemption form must be submitted to the department by the end of this month.

The penalty for non-submission of soil sample results, or soil sample exemption forms, is termination of the participants’ ACRES contract and recoupment of all monies previously paid to the participant in respect of ACRES.

Meanwhile, the department has confirmed that around 50 farmers have had their ACRES contracts terminated due to not completing the scheme's compulsory training course.

DAFM said there are currently around 53,600 farmers participating in ACRES.