Conacre Licence Agreement
Conacre is a system of letting agricultural land that is unique to Ireland. The current use of 'conacre' originated with the Land Acts of the mid-nineteenth century.
Today the term is used to reflect the system where landowners who wish to retain their land but not farm it can licence the land to another farmer, usually for a period of eleven months.
Under the latest reform to the EU Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) entitlements to be issued under the new support regime must be allocated to the person ‘enjoying the decision making power, the benefits and the financial risks in relation to agricultural activity being carried out on the land for which an allocation is requested’. This will have a significant impact on land let in conacre.
This fifth edition of the RICS Model Conacre Licence Agreement has been updated in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (DARD) to reflect changes to entitlements and eligible land in 2015 under CAP reform. The agreement can be used to support the introduction of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and Areas of Natural Constraint payments. It is intended that it can be used freely as a framework for a practitioner’s own agreement or used as it is.