Rural Development Council Report March 2022

TAMS

• TAMS Tranche 25 opened on Jan 15^th and will close on April 8^th.
• To keep pace with rising costs, IFA Rural Development Committee continued to lobby to repeat the reference costs review.  
• At a Farmers Charter of Rights meeting in December, the department confirmed that the review of the TAMS reference costs for grant-aided work would be finalised by mid-December, however, it was unlikely the revised costings would be implemented for Tranche 25. 
• It is scheduled to be implemented for Tranche 26, which is due to open on April 9^th.
• IFA continue to lobby to ensure that 100% of valid applications are approved in each tranche.
• Tranche 24 applications are due to be approved in the coming weeks. IFA are insisting that 100% of valid applications are approved.
• To date, 47,552 approvals have been issued
• Payments of €328.56m have been paid out to 25,884 farmers to date. A further 1,412 farmers have lodged payment claims.
• Average weekly payments range between €1.2- €1.4 million.
• The revised TAMS Budget to include the CAP Transitional period of 2021 and 2022 is €523.81m
• When the carryover allocation from TAMS 1 is taken into account, €340m has been spent out of the RDP allocation of €523.81m.

BPS/ANC Schemes

• 122,391 out of 122,618 have received the full 2021 BPS payment. IFA are working on some outstanding cases.
• BPS and ANC 2022 is currently open for applications and closes on Monday 16^th May

GLAS 

• At the end of 2020, 36,000 farmers completed their GLAS 1 & 2 contracts and were given the option to extend their contract to include 2021. At the end of 2021 a further 12,000 farmers participating in GLAS 3 will finish their contracts. All GLAS participants have been given the option to extend their contracts for 2022.
• GLAS advance payments (85%)  commenced in the 2^nd week of November with the balancing 15% payment due this year.  Over 44,000 farmers received their advance GLAS payment, totalling €156m.

REAP

• Almost 11,000 applications for the REAP scheme were received in 2021, with 4,889 farmers approved to participate
• There are currently 3,740 active participants on the scheme
• Payments under year one of the REAP scheme began to be issued in mid-December. €10m expected to be issued to participating farmers, with payments continuing on a regular basis. 

Agri-Environment Training Scheme 

• One day course (6 hours) for farmers up to the end of June 2022- €156 for the day 
• ½ day delivered on farm and ½ day off farm 
• Voluntary training scheme- open to all farmers to improve their knowledge of agri-environment initiatives and farm safety.
• Applications set to open in the coming weeks.
• Course will provide:
  • Update on environmental issues and developments at EU & National level
  • Lessons from GLAS participation- info on individual commitments and issues arising. Actions to be viewed on farm
  • Key ecological concepts e.g., preservation of Natura 2000 sites & bird habitats
  • Intro. to results based agri-environmental measures and payments including use of scorecards
  • Information on farm health & safety standards

CAP Reform

• DAFM issued Draft version of Ireland CAP Strategic Plan Nov 8^th.
• It was open for submissions until Dec 8^th, IFA made a detailed submission
• An updated draft version of the CAP Strategic Plans was submitted by DAFM to Commission on Dec 31^st 2021. This latest draft version is currently available to the public. 
• New agreement will commence on Jan 1^st 2023

Proposed New Agri-Environment Scheme (AECM)

• A new Agri-environment and climate measure (AECM) will replace the current GLAS scheme. It will consist of two elements: 

Cooperation Project option:

• available to farmers in 8 zones which have been defined as high priority geographical areas (see map below)
  • Farmers will work with a Local Cooperation Project Team, who will assist in the implementation of the scheme at local level.  
  • It will build on the current EIP’s – one contract
  • Average payments are expected to be in the region of €7,400 with the potential for a maximum of €10,500.
  • There are approx. 32,000 farmers in the areas identified under the co-operative option
  • Expected uptake under the AECM Co-Operation is estimated to be 20,000 farmers over a number of tranches.

General option:

• Available nationally to farmers not in the Co-operative Model areas
  • This will consist of farm level actions including results-based measures. 
  • Average payments are expected to be in the region of €5,000 per annum over the five-year period of the scheme with the potential to reach a maximum of €7,300. 
  • Expected uptake is estimated to be 30,000 farmers over a number of tranches.

IFA Comments on the AECM

• The payment rate of €10,500 per farmer must not be limited to 20,000 farmers in the co-operative areas identified by the Dept and it cannot include non-productive investments required as part of the scheme
• The scheme will only support 50,000 farmers – not sufficient to meet likely demand demand based on current number participating in GLAS and the number who applied for REAP and will will possibly exclude thousands of farmers
• Opening of Scheme on a Tranche basis will lead to a gap between completing GLAS and commencement of AECM.  To avoid a gap between completion of GLAS and commencing the new AECM, IFA are insisting that the scheme is opened to all participants in 2023 or if not GLAS 3 must rolled over for farmers who are not accepted in the first tranche.
• The design of the Co-op aspect of the scheme is likely to lead to leakage of funds to administrative costs. Funding for the Local Project Team involved in the running of the co-operative option part of the scheme must not come from CAP and leakage of funds must not be allowed
• The cooperative model and the general option are to include four results-based measures.  Results-based measures must be realistic and suitable for all sectors, include a large list of options and provide for simple scoring which is easily defined. They must also be practical and achievable. There are currently four proposed results-based actions: commonage, low input grassland, low input peat grassland and protection of rare breeds.  
• Farmers in the cooperative areas must be given the option to participate in either the General option or the Cooperative option.
• It is critical that the scheme recognises existing features on farms and continues to enhance earlier scheme actions.

AECM Co-Operation Option- Identified Zones

Upcoming Events

• Meeting with DAFM on AECM and TAMS – March 2022                               

• Committee Meeting – March 2022