The Agricultural Consultants Association Northern Ireland – ACA(NI) was formed in 2006 by like minded professionals and was initially called the Northern Ireland Agricultural Consultants Association (NIACA).

The Association has members across Northern Ireland and was formed to not only represent members who assist farmers with the administration of their farm businesses, but to also provide an interface with the Department of Agriculture,Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and the Statutory bodies such as the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) or the Forest Service.

Since 2006, the work of our members has developed as policies, legislation and procedures have evolved at European, national and regional levels. Our members assist their farming clients with the administrative changes and new farm recording requirements.

Our motto has always been, “you do the farming, we do the paperwork”

ACA(NI) is recognized as a stakeholder in Northern Ireland Agriculture as our members conduct work for a quite a large percentage of farmers. We regularly meet DAERA at senior level for Area-based Schemes and Single Application Form. Through these meetings many important changes in completing the (SAF) Single Application Forms etc have been initiated by ACA (NI) members. The most important was the change in the rules for duplicated fields back in 2016, but we continue to seek changes in the administration of all the schemes affecting farming.

We also need to highlight that we have a formal constitution accepted by the members. Also members have professional liability insurance but it is advisable to check this before you engage an ACA (NI) member as your agent.

The association also provides a forum for individual members to share their knowledge, experiences and methods of problem solving. We regularly discuss our clients circumstances with DAERA and if necessary we complete a Stage 1 Review of Decisions and accompany our client to an Independent Panel Interview.