GLAS+ advance payments under the Green Low Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) will commence this week, the DAFM has confirmed today (Wednesday).
Payments will roll into the accounts of GLAS participants who undertook exceptional environmental commitments.
Accordingly, Minister McConalogue outlined, the DAFM rewards these farmers under GLAS with an additional yearly payment of up to €2,000 in respect of 2022, with this element of the scheme known as GLAS+.
The most recent pay run to the value of €3.41 million will roll into the bank accounts of 2,852 GLAS participants.
Its inclusion will bring the total payments made to date in respect of GLAS to over €1.32 billion.
According to Minister McConalogue, the DAFM has paid 88.7% of GLAS participants their advance payment in respect of their 2022 GLAS commitments.
The DAFM confirmed that “regular” pay runs will be in place over the coming weeks to issue payments as GLAS cases are cleared.
The minister urged any GLAS participants with outstanding documentation, including rare breed forms or those who have been contacted by the department with queries concerning their GLAS participation or BPS application, should respond as soon as possible to facilitate the early issue of payments.
ACRES
He outlined that “GLAS and its successor scheme, ACRES, provide a means by which we can encourage and support farmers to adapt to more sustainable farming methods”.
“I am very pleased to confirm that the ACRES scheme has been extremely popular with farmers. This illustrates farmers’ commitment to playing a leadership role in meeting our environmental and biodiversity ambitions.”
The scheme closed for applications at midnight on Wednesday, December 7th, 2022.
According to the DAFM’s database, in total, there were just over 46,000 applications submitted.
He said the DAFM will contact applicants for the scheme in “early 2023”.
The news comes just days after the DAFM announced the roll-out of BDGP payments, which provides an additional €28m cash boost for farmers.
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