The Straw Incorporation Measure is a payment for chopping straw and incorporating it into the soil.

How to qualify
You must be cultivating any or all of the following crops which must be stated on your Basic Payment Scheme application:

• Winter or spring oats
• Rye
• Winter or spring wheat
• Winter or spring barley
• Winter or spring oil seed rape

As soon as possible after the crops have been harvested, the straw must be:

• Chopped
• Spread evenly
• Incorporated into the soil

You can get paid on at least 5 hectares but on no more than 40 hectares. If you apply for more than 40 hectares you will have to carry out the measure on the whole area applied for but not get paid for more than 40 hectares.

There is a budget of €15 million for this scheme. If more people apply for it than can be paid using the budget, then applications will be ranked.

Rate of payment
Crop Payment per hectare
Oats, Rye, Wheat, Barley €250
Oil Seed Rape €150

Acres:
What is it?
ACRES is the new Agri–environmental scheme, it stands for the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme. It is taking over from the Green Low – Carbon, Agri – Environment Scheme (GLAS). It aims to build on learnings from GLAS and from the Results Based, Agri Pilot Project (REAP).
Participants in ACRES can fall into either one of two categories; ACRES co-operation (CP) or ACRES general.
Participants would fall under ACRES CP if there land is defined in defined high priority geographical areas. ACRES CP involves results based payments as well as different farm & landscape actions.
ACRES general is available nationally. It offers a range of actions for farmers both targeted & general. Both categories require the preparation of a Farm Sustainability Plan to be completed and submitted by an ACRES advisor.
To be eligible for ACRES, applicants must:

• Be aged 18 years or over when they apply.
• Be the owner of an active business ID.
• Have all lands farmed declared in the applicant’s name on the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS).
• Have submitted a valid BISS application

Payment Rates
ACRES General offers a maximum of €7,311 a year. The level of payment a farmer may achieve will be determined by the payment rates for the actions selected and undertaken.

Co-operation offers a maximum of €10,500 a year with a maximum results-based payment of €7,000 with an extra non-productive investment and a landscape maximum of €3,500. The level of payment will be determined by results-based scorecards, non-productive investments, and landscape actions.

You must engage an approved ACRES Advisor to make an application on your behalf.

BISS
Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) Scheme.

Land Eligibility
Parcels can have up to 50 per cent of beneficial features. For example, trees or scrub, without it affecting the area eligible.

Agricultural Activity
Applicants may be asked about the agricultural activity they are carrying out. For example, if a parcel of land is of significant distance from the holding, commonage applicants, grassland with no livestock.

Active Farmer
You have to be the person farming the land. The farming activities can include meeting a minimum stocking rate of 0.10 livestock units per hectare, cutting hay/silage, producing crops, landscape features, etc.

Entitlements
All values converge to the national average, 25 per cent of direct payments, will fund the Eco scheme, and 10 per cent of direct payments will fund the CRISS. The easiest way to find out about your payments is to visit the online calculator at https://cap-calculators.apps.rhos.agriculture.gov.ie/

Capping
BISS payments begin to be capped above €60,000 and the maximum payment will be €66,000. Other payments are not capped.

Eco Schemes
Eco Scheme Options include the following:

• Space for nature
• Extensive livestock production
• Limiting chemical nitrogen usage
• Planting of native trees/hedgerows
• Use of a GPS-controlled fertiliser spreader/sprayer
• Soil sampling and appropriate liming
• Planting of a break crop
• Planting of a multi-species sward

Applicants should note:
Payment is not linked to Payment Entitlements but is on eligible hectares. Farmers must deliver two agricultural practices to qualify for Eco Scheme payment. They can opt-in or opt out on an annual basis and can change agricultural practices yearly. Payment of approximately €70-€80 per eligible hectare.

CRISS
Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS)

Applicants should note:

• New scheme from 2023, known as front loading
• Paid to all farmers on their first 30 hectares
• Payment is not linked to Payment Entitlement values but eligible hectares (max 30 hectares)
• Payment is approximately €43 per hectare

CIS-YF

Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers (CIS-YF)

Applicants should note

• No longer based on Payment Entitlements but on eligible hectares (max 50 hectares)
• Applicants have to be head of the holding, jointly or solely, for the first time or have set up such a holding during the five years preceding their application for this scheme
• Payment of approximately €180 per eligible hectare