ACRES General

Please watch this short video presentation from Pat Morrison, Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine, providing a general overview of ACRES General.

General Rules:
Farmers who choose to participate in ACRES will have only one ACRES contract. The application should be prepared and submitted by an approved ACRES advisor.

Eligibility Criteria:
Open to all categories of active farmers eligible in the defined mapped area for ACRES General. You can download the draft eligibility criteria and specifications and Terms & Conditions here.

Role of the advisor:
Your agricultural advisor will examine your farm holding and geo-spatial data that is available on the Department’s GLAM mapping system. They must also carry out a desktop review and a field assessment prior to selecting the most appropriate actions for your farm.

The Farm Sustainability Plan:
The completion of a FSP is compulsory for all ACRES applications. This plan helps you to select the most appropriate actions for your farm. Your advisor will help you to complete your FSP.

General actions:
Participants in ACRES General will be admitted to the scheme on a tiered basis (Tiers 1 to 3). Eligibility for each tier specifies the mandatory actions that must be taken if accepted.

Payments:
Payment for actions will be made directly to you from DAFM. You should retain all invoices and receipts and track time spent on implementing actions on your farm.

General Approach

The ACRES General approach introduces a qualitative approach with the inclusion of results-based actions. In addition, the introduction of a Farm Sustainability Plan will help achieve the underlying principle of the new AECM framework of “the right measure in the right place”.

ACRES General is structured around a hierarchy of three tiers, with Tier 1 receiving priority over Tier 2, and Tier 2 over Tier 3. The basis for application under each Tier is as follows:

Tier 1
Farmers with certain Priority Environmental Assets (PEAs) who must undertake mandatory actions associated with those assets. This Tier is important as the actions to be undertaken relate to identified priority areas such as sensitive landscapes [Natura and commonage lands], protection of priority water areas and conservation of rare breeds.

Organic farmers will also receive Tier 1 priority access to the scheme.

Tier 2
Farmers, who do not have a Priority Environmental Asset but whose lands include a Vulnerable Water Area may apply for access to the scheme under Tier 2. In such cases, appropriate actions as deemed appropriate by Advisor will be chosen to address pressures relevant to the Vulnerable Water Areas as identified in the Farm Sustainability Plan.

An applicant may also be considered under Tier 2 if s/he is a participant in the Native Woodland Establishment Scheme or GPC 11 – Agro-forestry or if s/he adopts at least one of the tree-planting actions i.e.

• Planting Trees – in Rows, Groups or Parkland
• Planting Trees in Riparian Buffers
• Tree Belt for Ammonia Capture at farmyard.

In the absence of a Vulnerable Water Area, an applicant may still be considered for Tier 2 if s/he has a whole farm stocking rate (whether beef, dairy or sheep) exceeding (›) 130 kg Livestock Manure Nitrogen per hectare (ha) produced on the holding, or has more than 30 hectares (ha) of arable crops, but must adopt at least one of the following mandatory actions:

• Minimum Tillage
• Catch crops
• Over winter stubble
• Grass margins arable or Grass margins grassland
• Low input peat grassland

Tier 3
All other farmers who undertake a range of appropriate actions, selected from a list of General actions, to address local/farm specific environmental priorities, with actions selected following the completion of a Farm Sustainability Plan.

This tiered structure combined with the ranking and selection criteria is designed to ensure the targeted and prioritised delivery of environmental benefits. The Farm Sustainability Plan will inform the most appropriate selection of actions in all cases.