# Using AI to Build Your ACRES Action Plan: What It Can Draft and What It Can't *Published 2026-06-24 by FarmAI Ireland* ACRES is live. €1.5 billion over five years. Payments tied to what you actually achieve on the ground — not just what actions you take. And your action plan is the document that links your land to your payment. Most Irish farmers know they need the plan. Fewer know exactly what it has to contain. And almost none have tried using AI to draft the sections that don't require an advisor's signature. Here's what works, what doesn't, and what you should never hand to AI. --- ## What ACRES actually requires ACRES pays in two tracks. **Cooperation track** (the majority of applicants) — you score points based on results. Water quality. Biodiversity indicators. Soil health. Landscape features. The higher your results score, the higher your payment rate. Your action plan sets out what you're going to do to improve or maintain those results. **General track** — a set of prescribed actions at fixed payment rates. Less documentation-intensive, but lower payment potential for most farms. Your action plan for the cooperation track typically covers: - Current farm situation (land type, stocking, existing habitats) - Priority actions for each eligible land parcel - Biodiversity actions (hedgerow management, field margins, wetland areas) - Water protection measures (buffer strips, exclusion fencing, slurry spreading windows) - Evidence of baseline conditions The sections that require professional assessment — habitat scoring, NPWS consultation on designated land, water body categorisation — stay with your Teagasc advisor or approved ACRES planner. That's non-negotiable. The sections that don't? Those are where AI can save you hours. --- ## What AI can draft **Farm situation summary** Give an AI assistant the basic facts: your county, farm size, soil type (you know this from LPIS or Teagasc soil maps), enterprise type, current stocking rate. Ask it to draft a 2-3 paragraph farm situation statement in plain English. It takes 10 minutes. It gives you a starting point that your advisor can review and sign off rather than write from scratch. That review is faster and cheaper. **Buffer strip and water protection records** As covered in a separate FarmAI guide, ACRES water protection documentation can be built from phone photos, dated notes, and AI-generated summaries. For your action plan, this becomes: "Current buffer strip situation across the farm's watercourses, with photographic evidence dated [month/year]." AI can format that from your notes. You supply the facts; it structures the document. **Hedgerow and field boundary inventory** Walk your hedgerows. Note the approximate length, condition (good/fair/poor), species visible, and any management done in the past three years. Dictate this into your phone or take voice notes. Ask an AI assistant to turn those voice notes into a structured hedgerow inventory table — length, condition, management history, proposed action — formatted for your ACRES advisor to review. This isn't the professional habitat assessment. It's the raw inventory your advisor needs to do that assessment efficiently. What used to take an afternoon in the kitchen turns into 20 minutes. **Slurry and organic fertiliser records** ACRES has closed spreading periods and application restrictions near watercourses. If you're keeping records in a notebook or a spreadsheet, AI can convert those into a structured compliance record with dates, quantities, field parcels, and weather conditions. Format: give the AI your notebook entries one field at a time. Ask it to output a table with columns for date, field reference, quantity, soil condition, and distance to nearest watercourse. --- ## The prompt that saves the most time This is the most useful starting point for drafting your farm situation section: *"I'm applying for ACRES Cooperation Track in [county]. My farm is [X] hectares, predominantly [enterprise type], on [soil type] soils. I have [approximate number] metres of hedgerow, [any wetland areas, yes/no], [approximate watercourse length on farm] metres of watercourse, and [existing buffer/exclusion fencing, yes/no]. Draft a 300-word farm situation overview for an ACRES action plan, citing the results-based scoring system and noting which habitat and water quality indicators are most likely relevant to my land type."* That prompt — with your actual numbers — will produce a draft in 90 seconds that would take most farmers 45 minutes to write themselves. Your advisor will edit it. But editing is faster than writing. --- ## What AI cannot do Be clear about the limits before you submit anything. **Habitat assessment** — only an approved ACRES planner or Teagasc advisor can score habitats under the results-based system. AI has no access to your specific parcel satellite data and no knowledge of what's actually on your land. **Species identification** — AI cannot reliably identify plant species from field descriptions. Biodiversity scoring requires expert survey, not AI summarisation. **NPWS cross-referencing** — if your land is in or near a Special Area of Conservation or Natural Heritage Area, the restrictions and opportunities require NPWS consultation. AI doesn't know your land's designation status (though you can check it on the NPWS viewer yourself before your advisor visits). **Results scoring** — the ACRES payment calculation is done by DAFM based on your planner's verified field data. AI has no role in that calculation. **Submission** — all ACRES applications go through your Teagasc advisor or approved ACRES planner. AI cannot submit on your behalf. --- ## The honest use case AI saves you time on the administrative and narrative sections of your ACRES documentation. It helps you arrive at your advisor meeting prepared — with a farm situation summary, a hedgerow inventory, a water protection record, and a set of organised field notes. That preparation reduces the time your advisor spends on admin and increases the time available to look at your land properly. That's where the real value is. If you're paying per hour for ACRES planning support, arriving prepared could save you one or two billable hours per planning cycle. --- ## Where to start 1. **Check your track** — confirm with your Teagasc advisor or on the DAFM ACRES page whether you're on Cooperation or General track. The documentation requirements differ. 2. **Book your advisor visit** — do this before you draft anything. They set the parameters. 3. **Use the prompt above** to draft your farm situation section. 4. **Start your hedgerow and watercourse inventory** — voice notes on your next farm walk, typed up later. 5. **Build your water protection record** — the companion FarmAI guide covers the 10-minute monthly workflow. Your advisor writes the plan. AI helps you walk in the door with something worth reviewing. --- ## The bottom line AI won't build your ACRES action plan. Your approved advisor does that. But AI can cut the administrative prep time in half — farm situation summary, inventory records, water protection documentation, slurry records — so your advisor spends their time on what only they can do. On a complex farm, that's a meaningful saving. --- ## Sources - [DAFM — ACRES Scheme](https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/5e29d-agri-climate-rural-environment-scheme-acres/) — Official ACRES scheme documentation, payment conditions, and results-based scoring - [Teagasc — ACRES Guidance](https://www.teagasc.ie/rural-economy/rural-development/agri-environment/) — Teagasc ACRES advice and farm plan support services - [ASSAP — Agricultural Sustainability Support](https://www.assap.ie) — Water quality advisory support for ACRES applicants in targeted catchments - [NPWS — National Parks and Wildlife Service](https://www.npws.ie) — Habitat action guidance relevant to ACRES biodiversity requirements --- *Source: [FarmAI Ireland](https://farmai.ie/read/using-ai-to-generate-acres-farm-plan)*