Scorecards for ACRES 2025 payments sent to advisors
Scorecards for lands for results-based payments under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) have been sent out to ACRES advisors this week.
The department has also provided an updated version of the ACRES scorecard guidance document, which provides information to advisors on the way in which the lands concerned should be surveyed, and on the completion of the relevant scorecards.
Advisors are being reminded that, for the scores submitted to be deemed valid and used in the determination of ACRES payments for 2025, they must be submitted by an approved ACRES advisor who has completed mandatory in-field scorecard training in 2025.
Courses to provide this training are currently being provided, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine said.
There is also a specific introductory, basic scorecard training course being provided for those advisors who did not attend a mandatory ACRES scorecard training course in 2024 (for example, where an ACRES advisor has only been approved as such since summer 2024).
When completing the Scrub/Woodland scorecard on the AgriSnap photo app, advisors should only select either section A1-S (Scrub) or A1-W (Woodland), depending on the habitat type present.
Advisors should also ensure that only the relevant section is completed. Entering information in both sections A1-S (Scrub) and A1-W (Woodland) will result in an inaccurate score and subsequently a delay in payments to farmers.
All scorecards – both Co-operation Project (CP) results-based scorecards and scorecards for general actions – for each holding must be submitted within 14 days of initiating the first scorecard. The last day for submission of all scorecards to the department is August 31 each year, according to the specifications of the ACRES programme.
Once an ACRES scorecard has been submitted in full, it will not be possible to make further changes to the scorecard and it cannot subsequently be amended.
Advisors are being told that it is therefore essential that they are 'fully satisfied' that scorecards are correct at the time of submission.
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