17 May 2025

7 ACRES actions to be monitored from the sky

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has announced that its Area Monitoring System (AMS), colloquially known by some as the ‘eye in the sky’, will be used to monitor seven ACRES actions this year.

Used to ensure that area-based schemes have met their eligibility requirements for 2025, AMS monitored two ACRES actions in 2024 – Extensively Grazed Pasture and Winter Bird Food, as part of the 2024 ACRES checks. This year, its use has been expanded further to include:

• Brassica Fodder Stubble: AMS will check for establishment of catch crop.
• Catch Crops:AMS will check for establishment of catch crop.
• Environmental Management of Arable Fallow:AMS will check for establishment of catch crop.
• Extensively Grazed Pasture: AMS will check for mowing events during the restricted period, i.e. 15 March to 1 July.
• Riparian Buffer Zone – Arable: AMS will check for the presence of a grass crop and mowing events during the restricted period, i.e. 1 March to 31 August.
• Riparian Buffer Zone – Grassland: AMS will check for the presence of a grass crop and mowing events during the restricted period, i.e. 1 March to 31 August.
• Winter Bird Food: AMS will check for establishment of Winter Bird Food Crop.

The Department has reminded farmers that the AMS uses colour coding. Parcels flagged as green and yellow indicate a degree of confidence that the land detail in the farmer’s application has been verified by AMS and payments can be made. However, a land parcel flagged by AMS as red indicates an error which may result in a notification being issued to the applicant on their BISS online account and a delay in payments.

AMS may be complemented with follow up checks on the ground by an inspector to provide further clarification. Separately, the Department may also send a notification request asking the applicant to submit geotagged photographs using AgriSnap, as part of the checks process.

Further details on AMS checks are available here.