A Co Cavan farmer is outraged that payments to farmers who applied to tranche one of the ACRES scheme will see their payments delayed until February of next year.
This announcement emerged at a meeting between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and various stakeholders, including leading farm organisations and the Agricultural Consultants Association.
Sources familiar with the nature of that meeting have said that stakeholders were informed of the delay in payments in the CP stream of ACRES. ICSA Animal Health and Welfare chair and Ballyconnell native Hugh Farrell says, this will be a huge blow to the 18,600 farmers who were expecting to see an ACRES payment this month.
The issue around the delayed payment for the 18,600 farmers in ACRES Co-operation stems from the very complex habitat scorecards and a verification process by the Department of Agriculture.
Mr Farrell says all options must be explored in order to find a way to get payments out to farmers this year.
