Minister Heydon reminds farmers that the deadline for submission of ACRES scorecards approaching
- Published on: 20 August 2025
- Last updated on: 20 August 2025
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, today encouraged ACRES participants and their ACRES advisors to ensure that all required scorecards are submitted by the upcoming deadline of 31 August 2025.
The Minister said:
“The availability of results-based payments was a significant innovation in the design of ACRES. The assessment of the lands in question on at least three occasions over the five-year period of an ACRES contract means that an improvement in the environmental standard of that land is reflected in the level of payment the farmer receives. ACRES advisors play a key role in this element of the Scheme as they are the people who walk the land and do the assessment and then score it using standardised scorecards. To put this task into context, some 125,000 scorecards were issued to ACRES advisors in the first week of June for their completion and return by 31 August 2025.”
While noting that this deadline is less than two weeks away, Minister Heydon commented:
“I am pleased to note that completed scorecards are being drafted and submitted on an ongoing basis, with just over a quarter now left to be returned. I appreciate that ACRES advisors are well aware of the deadline for the submission of completed ACRES scorecards. My department has issued a circular to the advisors to remind them of availability of a report function in my Department’s GLAM system so they can check the status of the scorecards, with the circular also providing advice on how to deal with other issues that may arise when scoring. I consider it timely to flag the approaching deadline as the return of all completed scorecards is necessary for the processing of payments to the farmers concerned.”
ENDS
Notes to Editor
- The Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) is the agri-environment climate measure under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan for the period 2023-2027.
- The Scheme is jointly funded by the European Union and the National Exchequer.
- There are two approaches within ACRES namely:
- an ACRES General approach offering a range of General Actions for farmers, including four results-based actions.
and
- a Co-operation approach, available to farmers in eight defined high priority geographical areas, which is a whole-farm, results-based approach with the option of additional general actions. An ACRES Co-operation Project (CP) team is in place in each of the ACRES Co-operation areas to assist farmers in the implementation of the Scheme.
- An innovative element in ACRES is the incorporation of a results-based approach and collective actions into the range of actions and measures available to farmers. The design of ACRES was informed by lessons learned from the Green Low Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS), the Results-Based Environment-Agri Pilot Project (REAP) and locally-led projects undertaken under the European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs). Results-based payments reward farmers for their own environmental action and ambition at farm level.
- An information leaflet on Results Based Payments in ACRES is available on the Department’s website at acres-cp-farmers-results-based-payments-information-leaflet.pdf (assets.gov.ie)